Cursed
by Neko-Kanojo
Summary: What I think could have happened after Chase's conversation with House and the one with his father at the end of season one episode, Cursed. Now a Multi-Chaptered fic.
1. Falling For The First Time

This is my first attempt at a House fanfiction. It's only a one-shot, I may or may not continue it depending on the response… It's merely a result of me watching my first season DVDs. So, before I start… I DO NOT own House, M.D. or any of the characters! Plus, spoilers for _**Cursed**_, although shame on you if you haven't seen it. Oh the shame.

**Chapter One**

**Falling for the First Time**

_I'm so sane, it's driving me crazy  
It's so strange, I can't believe it  
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time_

"I've given him enough hugs; he's given me enough disappointments." Chase said, seething, staring strait into House's eyes whilst trying his best at an unruffled expression that in House's opinion, really did not suit him. He wondered where the emotional, _fun_, Chase was as the latter got up and went through the door, keeping his composure until he opened the door with more force than necessary and walked out furiously.

House remained seated for a moment, thinking it was best to leave Chase alone until the subject was cleared – at least until his father went back to Australia. Another moment passed however, one in which House did not feel as compassionate and his final decision was the one he had come up with earlier: to heat things up a bit. See if Chase would crack somehow.

As he had assumed, Chase was with their patient, Gabe, who was currently recovering from his leprosy. House waited patiently outside the room, twirling his cane and shooting suggestive glances at passing nurses, just to annoy them. As if they would have the guts to tell him to stop… Getting bored, he looked around just in time to see Chase exit the room. The Aussie stopped in his tracks, shot him a defiant stare and walked away quickly. House followed him as fast as he could with his cane, which was pretty fast considering the fact people were jumping out of their way as they walked to the conference room.

At least, House had thought they were going to the conference room, but they passed the elevators and the stairs. He was about to ask when Chase unexpectedly stopped, nearly causing the cripple to fall over as they collided.

"That's not nice; I could have hurt myself!" House said in a concerned-grandmother tone of voice. Chase didn't answer but opened the door to Exam room four, who's blinds were closed, and shut the door after House had stepped in too, flicking the light on. The door was then locked with a _click_ and Chase sat on the patient bad, rubbing his forehead and sighing.

"Who are you and what have you done with Robert Chase?" House asked, sounding dramatically cliché on purpose. Chase looked up at him slowly, with another fierce stare.

"What is your problem? I told you everything you wanted to know, don't you have someone else to annoy now?" House bit his lip, cocked his head to the side and glanced at the ceiling, mimicking a thoughtful look.

"I couldn't find Wilson, so I thought you would be perfect to inflict my sinful woes upon!" He said sarcastically.

"Oh come on… Even if Wilson wasn't in his office, you would have found him somehow. So why'd you come to annoy boring old Chase?" There was a silence, and Chase cleared his throat, "Unless you care now? Aww, and here I thought you didn't have feelings."

"Shut up," House snapped, losing his temper. He sat down on the chair in front of the bed and glared back at Chase, who suddenly looked really miserable. "I… are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Chase avoided his piercing stare though, he seemed anxious.

"Because of your father." House answered him seriously, simply, to which Chase promptly looked angry. "Will you _drop it _already! What more do you want to know! The color of my underwear?!" He exclaimed, shacking his head unbelievingly. House smirked as an image of a boxer-clad Chase formed in his mind. He shook it away and looked at Chase with what he hoped was a look filled with pity and compassion. Heh, as if!

"I just want to know if you're okay…" Chase raised a skeptic eyebrow at his words but didn't interrupt, "And, _yes_, I do care." The Australian stared blankly at his boss, who looked at him with a scrutinizing look.

"Yeah, right." Chase snorted. House didn't flinch, "I know how you feel Chase. But I also know you love your father, don't try to deny it."

"_He loves you." Chase told Gabe, who quickly looked away and retorted, "Yeah, well I don't love him." Chase chuckled and sat on the edge of the bed. "Yeah you do…" He said, looking at the kid with a smile._

Chase continued to look at House and felt his eyes tingle. As he blinked, a tear came rolling down his cheek. He lifted up his arm to wipe it away but didn't get to – House did it for him. He felt House's finger gently wipe away the tear and saw those blue eyes bear into his own, getting suddenly closer. He knew what was going to happen, but he didn't try to stop it. In fact, Chase grabbed the sides of House's head just as he felt his boss' lips press against his own.

The intention of the kiss must have been comforting at first because it felt slow and delicate but Chase needed to feel more. He loved this warmth more than anything; he just didn't care about anything else now. It was peaceful, it was beautiful.

Until House suddenly roughened up and Chase pulled at his boss' clothes, silently demanding more. They stumbled and Chase knocked some glass phials over with his elbow, causing House to pull away in alarm, staring at him. It struck Chase at that moment – he was kissing his boss! His male boss! _House_, of all people! The latter bent down to pick up his fallen cane and looked back at his employee who was looking troubled, shuffling his feet, back against the counter.

"I guess what I was trying to say," House started, as if nothing had happened, "Is that I think you should go see your father before he leaves. Ask him if he wants a drink or whatever." Chase nodded, still silent. After a moment, or it may have been a whole minute, in which they just looked at each other, the blond looked away and headed for the door.

Before he left, he turned, and smiled faintly.

"Thanks, House."

And House just shrugged, as if he didn't care.

But Chase knew he did.

He knew that he cared now, too.


	2. Thanks That Was Fun

Well, I decided to turn it into a multi-chaptered fic! And thanks to my two reviewers; **inissor **and **onfire1012002**!!

Now, little anecdote… I was writing the plotline out for this fic while listening to some music when a Barenaked Ladies tune came up. So, after listening to some BNL, I've decided to name all the chapters after one of their songs. So, ya… that's it I guess. Here you go!

**Chapter Two**

**Thanks That Was Fun**

_Im thinking that Im ac__hing:  
Mistaking lust for love.  
Thanks that was fun.  
Dont forget, no regrets (cept maybe one)_

The music flowed through the apartment slowly and harmoniously as House's expert fingers glided over the keys. His song ended with a few dramatic low notes, and silence took over. As House was taking a sip of beer, there was a knock at his door. He stopped, lowering his bottle. It wasn't until the second knock that he got up and limped his way to the door. He briefly wondered who it could be; of course, it couldn't be Wilson because he had a key. And the person, who ever it was, had obviously waited until he had finished playing his tune before knocking. He opened the door and without giving House time to speak, Chase came in, taking off his shoes and leather coat before turning to face him.

"I was too late." Chase started, once again interrupting House before he had the chance to say anything. "He had to leave strait away. I guess I'll have to wait 'till next time." For a split second, House thought of telling Chase about his father's cancer, but was stopped by Wilson's voice in his head; _'Or you could __not__ tell him, that would be the nice, __human__, thing to do.' _He could really imagine his friend telling him that. Okay this was bad… If he started hearing voices…

"But that's not what I'm here for." Chase continued, looking strait at House, who remained silent but made a face that was clearly inquisitive. "Why did you kiss me?" The Australian finally asked. House cleared his throat and sat on his piano bench, back to the piano. Chase awkwardly looked around and sat on an armchair, facing his boss with an expectant look.

"I," House began, shaking his head slowly, wondering what he could say that would be a sufficient explanation, "uh, well, why not?" Chase laughed nervously, not quite grasping the hint of sarcasm, "So basically… you just kiss people whenever, wherever? Nice… really." House smirked.

"I don't. Listen, what can I say? It's just that it… seemed right. At that moment I mean! Okay – I'm not good at comforting people."

"You kissed me to make me _feel better?_ A hug and a slap on the back would have sufficed!" Chase said incredulously, half at the situation.

"Well, what did you think? That I'm in love with you or something?" Chase stared at him, not realizing House was kidding with him.

"Well, no! I just – I dunno, how'd you want me to know why you did it – I don't – I'm just – not –"

"Quit stammering, you sound like a lovestruck schoolgirl." House interrupted, efficiently shutting Chase's blabbing up. He got up and went and went to the kitchen, leaving his employee sitting there. Chase looked around House's apartment, guessing he was probably the only person to come in here except Wilson. House was suddenly back, holding out a beer for Chase to take.

"Oh, sorry, I don't –"

"Just take it and shut up, Chase."

Chase did as he was told and took a hesitant sip. It wasn't so bad, but he never drinked – he had learned to hate alcohol because of his mother. He was about to thank House anyway, but the cripple was seated back in front of his piano, and he started to play. Chase recognized the tune immediately – _Moonlight Sonata _by Beethoven. House played it wonderfully and Chase watched him in awe until the very end, not even touching his beer once. He's never had much talent in music himself, or any form of art whatsoever, but he loved music. When the song was over, House took a gulp of beer and looked at Chase thoughtfully.

"Did you like it?" He asked him, with a frown.

"Of course! I've never – I mean, it was beautiful! I've never seen it played so perfectly –"

"No. I know you liked the song, I saw that by the mesmerized look on your face; I'm talking about the kiss."

Chase didn't say anything, feeling his face heat up.

"It's a simple question, Chase." House stated impatiently.

"I don't have a simple answer." Chase snapped. He sighed and gulped before saying, "Yeah… I did." House nodded.

"But I'm not gay." Chase spluttered, attempting to make himself clear.

"So this is a one-time thing?" House asked seriously. Chase didn't even stop to think before answering, "No! It's – a, uhh…" Then he hung his head, defeated, and House laughed. Chase looked up at him, confused. "Well I've got my answer," House said, "And so do you; now, I know everything I wanted to know." With that, he finished his beer and went to his room. Chase waited in the living-room, his heart rate double what was normal. House returned, in boxer shorts and looked at him with a sarcastic surprised look.

"You still here?"

Chase frowned. "You never told me to leave."

"Fine, stay here for the night if you really want to." Chase felt himself blush slightly, and House pulled a face, "On the couch, of course." He added, before disappearing into the bathroom and leaving Chase alone with his dilemma. What would House think if he left? He would probably think he was scared, or that he didn't care. What if he stayed? House would think he wanted to sleep with him. Did he? Chase didn't know. Did the fact that he had enjoyed a kiss with House mean he'd enjoy… something else?

Chase shook his head; this was absurd, unreal! House was his boss, for crying out loud! He jumped as the door to the bathroom opened and House came out, "Well, what're you gonna do?"

"I'll stay." Chase said immediately, although his decision had not quite been made. Resisting the temptation to slap himself, or bang his head on some hard surface, he watched House take a blanket out of his wardrobe. "Is that your final answer?" He asked him, handing him the blanket only when Chase nodded.

Then he went back to his room, shutting the door without another word or look.

Chase just sat there for a minute, contemplating the situation he had managed to put himself into. House would surely think he expected something from him now, wouldn't he?

Deciding a good night of sleep would maybe (hopefully) clear some things up in his mind, Chase went to the couch and lay under the blanket he supposed was for when Wilson came over and slept here. He knew this because he often saw the oncologist come in with House in the morning. Chase gasped and sat up. What if – what if someone noticed him come in with House tomorrow morning? He should have driven here… What an idiot he had been to come to House's place on foot! But then again, how could he have known he would be staying the night? It's just that he liked taking walks. And House didn't live that far away from his own apartment. He finally decided he didn't care and lay back down, resting his head on a cushion and falling asleep almost at once.

The smell of coffee woke him. Chase looked up and saw House sitting at the kitchen table. Despite still feeling rather drowsy, he got up and felt a faint strain in his lower back – which was to be expected from sleeping on a couch.

House spotted him and smiled. That was weird. "Right on time, wombat," he said, "Make breakfast now." His boss told him. Chase frowned at him.

"I would have preferred a 'good morning, how are you?'"

"I'd like waffles this morning." House stated, completely ignoring Chase's look of protest. The Aussie abstained himself from another retort; he wanted to sleep at House's again. If making breakfast was the price, well, so be it.

After the waffles, House took a shower and got dressed, returning with clothes for Chase, who took them with a look of incomprehension.

"Come on, don't tell me you were going to come to work with the same clothes as yesterday? It would look fishy." House smirked as Chase raised an eyebrow and he interrupted his intake of breath preceding a phrase, "And don't tell me no one would have noticed! _Everyone_ would have noticed you wearing that horrible mix of patterns and colors for two days strait. And no one will see you're wearing my clothes because I hardly ever wear this… _And_ no one keeps track of what _I _wear because I pale in comparison to you."

Anything Chase could have said to defend himself having been snatched right out from under his nose, he reluctantly took the pile of clothes and took a brief shower too. It turned out House's clothes rather fit him, except that they were slightly too big, but it was a relief for House to see Chase without so much color.

They went strait to House's car without a word because of the strong wind, and once inside, they didn't talk either. House didn't question Chase's decision to ride with him, seeing there was no other car anywhere.

Exactly as Chase had thought, the moment they walked into Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, at least three people looked at House, then at Chase, a frown forming on their forehead. What didn't help was House walking over to the reception desk, saying; "Seven fifteen, doctors House and Chase sign in." The nurse behind the counter looked up at Chase with a surprised look, but wrote the information down without question.

House walked in the conference room first, preceded closely by Chase who went to his seat immediately, ignoring the surprised look he got from Foreman and Cameron. Before any of the two said anything, House served himself a coffee and shot a look at Chase, silently asking if he wanted one. Chase shook his head and House shrugged, turning to his other ducklings, who were still looking at the Australian, and said; "Case?"

Foreman turned to look at his boss and held out a red file, "Yeah. 32 year old female, CEO of Sonyo Cosmetics, came in with paralysis in her leg. She experienced pain during a business meeting." House hummed as he read the file, tapping his cane on the ground.

"Dr. House, I realize the chances may be very slim, but I'm sure you recognize she may have what you had; a clot in her thigh." Cameron said, standing up and looking at Foreman and Chase, arms crossed.

"That's a bit of a long shot isn't it?" The Australian asked, clearly not agreeing.

"What about a discarnation though?" Foreman asked Cameron, who went to sit down next to Chase; "I dunno, Eric, she would have pain elsewhere wouldn't she?" House frowned at her and Chase smirked, while Foreman mumbled; "Yeah… I suppose."

"You're right," Cameron went on, "A clot's also the most deadly. Right, Robert?" House continued to frown at Cameron's sudden decision to call her colleagues by their surname. Chase was unbalanced by it too, "Uh… true!" He told her, nodding, "If the clot breaks up… she could stroke and die." He looked at House, who didn't speak, still staring at Cameron, who got up _again_.

"Dr. House, I believe that they're right, and –"

"Stop talking." House told her seriously, to which Cameron blinked and said, "What?" The cripple sighed and said, pacing around, "You've read one of those negotiating books didn't you? 50 ways to win an argument guide to being a pal. In five seconds, you've just manipulated these two into agreeing with you." Chase and Foreman looked at each other with perplexed faces, "Fellas, this is known as soft positional bargaining." House went back in front of Cameron and smirked; "Not going to work." Then he walked away.

Unfazed, Cameron followed him; "Dr. House are you saying that she doesn't have a clot, or that if she does have a clot, she doesn't need blood thinners and an angiogram?" House glanced at her with a light smile and spoke to his two other ducklings while looking Cameron in the eye; "So put her on blood thinners, and take an angiogram."

Cameron looked quite pleased with herself until House continued, "When that comes back negative, MRI the spine. If that's clean, cut her open and biopsy the leg." Cameron bit her lip. "Excellent suggestion." And House told her: "Read less, more TV."

They all watched him go into his office, and went to work.


	3. Pinch Me

Alright, this is a pretty long chapter, but most of it is pretty important. A lot of parts are basically scenes from the episode **Control**, which I have modified to fit with my story, so there are small details missing or adapted.

Once again, A big BIG thanks to my reviewers!

I've been uploading a chapter per day for three days strait now so don't expect to have another one until Monday night: I've got time on weekdays but not on weekends. Well, here you go – enjoy! (Still don't own House, M.D.!!)

**Chapter Three**

**Pinch Me**

_Like a dream you try to remember  
But it's gone  
Then you try to scream  
But it only comes out as a yawn  
When you try to see the world  
Beyond your front door_

----

House was in his office at lunch time; he wasn't hungry. He noticed when Wilson swiftly came in, having been expecting him, but he didn't take much notice of him and continued throwing his red tennis ball against the wall. Wilson had just come out of a meeting with the board and having not found House at the cafeteria, wondered where he was. He stood there, watching the ball bounce between the wall and House's hand, thinking it was pretty fishy for House to be up here, instead of downstairs annoying him and forcing him to pay for his lunch.

When the oncologist opened his mouth to speak, House cut strait across him; "I'm not hungry. I had waffles this morning." Wilson looked at him with his mouth slightly open.

"So it's true then," he said disbelievingly, "I've heard people saying Chase came with you this morning. It's true?" House caught his ball, placed it on his desk and put his feet up on it, passing it between his shoes, still not looking at his friend. "Whatever it is you heard people saying, it's clearly a rumor. What makes you believe it's true?"

"You _never _eat breakfast. You're too lazy to make a bowl of cereal – let alone waffles… The only reason you have some is because I make waffles whenever I come over." Wilson told him. House raised his eyebrows and said; "Checkmate." His theory confirmed, Wilson rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"Are you taking advantage of him? You know he's troubled because of his father, and –"

"Will you _relax_, I didn't do anything okay?" House groaned at him, finally looking up from his tennis ball.

"House, you and I both know you'd be more then capable of doing that, and Chase doesn't know what you can be like. Is he just like another hooker for you?" Wilson finally said what he'd come here to say, looking concerned.

"What part of _I didn't do anything _did you not understand? If you really have to know, yes Chase is upset about his father, but no I did not 'take advantage of him' to use your choice of words."

Wilson looked at him, troubled, and slowly said; "Okay, then." And he left, leaving House alone, who sighed and plugged his iPod. Chase was turning out to be more trouble than he had anticipated. He had thought he would at least have some peaceful days until Wilson found out…

----

As expected, his boss was in his office. Chase stopped outside the glass door before entering because the sight was quite peculiar; House was miming playing the piano on his desk, while the music blared through his speakers. The Aussie chuckled and went in, walking strait to the desk and placing a tray of food on it. House didn't see him for he had his eyes closed, so Chase bent over and unplugged the dock. House stopped, opening one eye, then the other; "What now?!" Chase sat and House looked surprised. "Thought you were Wilson," He said as an apology, then he saw the food. "I've already had lunch."

"No you haven't. You've been in you office all morning." Chase replied, composed.

"I wasn't hungry then. Why aren't you eating downstairs with all your _little buddies_?" House asked him, ignoring the fact that Chase knew he hadn't left his office at all since the differential. He had probably guessed, though. Or he had spied on him, sneaky bastard.

"I wanted to eat with you."

Wow. Now _that_, House had not expected.

"You're avoiding Cameron and Foreman. Or just Cameron because you're pissed that she got you with her tacky psychological thingy." House speculated.

"I am not! I want to eat with you!! And besides, you can't accuse me of avoiding anyone, because _you're _avoiding Cuddy. You don't want to do you clinic hours."

"And you don't want to eat with me. It's just an excuse." House told him with a bored voice, overlooking his comment on Cuddy because he knew it was true. Chase glared; "Why is it so hard for you to understand that someone wants to spend time with you? That I want to spend time with you?"

"Because no one wants to spend time with me. Except Wilson, but he doesn't count as someone." House replied simply, barely concealing his sarcasm, drumming his fingers on the desk and looking strait at his employee, who recognized the beat his boss was playing as the theme song of CSI: NY.

"Just… can I just eat here without having to give you a reason?" Chase finally asked, hanging his head. House nodded just as Chase looked up hopefully. He smiled warmly at his boss and unwrapped his sandwich. House cleared his throat, and said awkwardly; "So, you want to talk or something?"

"Yeah, uhh… so, you like CSI do you?" House laughed at his question but answered nonetheless, and they went along with that.

----

Cameron was looking for Chase. He wasn't anywhere in the cafeteria, despite them having finished all their tests. No one had mentioned the fact that he had come in with House that morning, or that look they had shared over the coffee machine – and she didn't really want to be the one to bring it up. On the other hand, she really wanted to know, and she was convinced Foreman wouldn't say anything. So here she was, looking for Chase.

She decided to go back to the conference room; her lunch break was almost over anyway. Foreman was already sitting there, reading the newspaper. Cameron sat down next to him and began to read the newspaper too, when Eric tapped her on the shoulder and nodded towards the glass between them and House's office.

She stared.

Chase and House were sitting face to face with the desk between them, talking animatedly. They were laughing too. She'd never seen House so happy. So… un House-like.

They stood up and came into the room, Chase sat down and House went directly to the coffee machine. Foreman chuckled; "Did you meet the new chairman of the board? I heard he took your parking space." Cameron scowled, looking from Foreman to House: "That's not funny. We should introduce ourselves… That couldn't hurt –"

"Hm. Patient hit a ten on a pain scale, what could explain that." House asked, walking back to the front of the room with his coffee and handing the file he had been reading over to Cameron, who took it and scanned through it with wide eyes. Chase was the one to speak; "There's no blood clot in her leg… completely clean."

"Robert… what was her sedimentation rate?" Cameron asked.

"Normal… therefore, no inflammation." Chase told her, after about five seconds of silence. "Would you mind sharing that number with me?" Cameron pressed on, making Foreman snicker.

"Fifteen, Alison."

"…" House walked away, behind Cameron so she couldn't see him smirking. "Are you mocking me?" She asked bluntly, to which Foreman replied in a childish voice, "No, Alison!" Chase laughed.

"I'm just suggesting we look outside the box." Cameron said, looking worried about something.

After another few more minutes of differentials, House decided they would go along with Cameron's absurd theory of their patient having cancer, and left to ask Wilson. So the three ducklings went and made themselves comfortable in House's office while they waited for the cancer test results.

"What's wrong, Cameron? You look troubled." Chase asked, playing with House's tennis ball. She shook her head; "Nothing's wrong. Actually… What's wrong with you? I mean, what's going on with House?" Chase looked blankly at her. "What do you mean –"

"Oh stop it. You came in with him, he asked you if you wanted coffee… you had lunch together! Don't tell me that's not normal."

"Has it occurred to you that it's none of your business if House and I are _friends_, so I have nothing to justify?" He asked her, putting great emphasis on the word 'friends', as if he were trying to convince himself too. Cameron blinked and shook her head; "No… House just isn't like that. Yesterday, you barely talked to each other. Things like that don't just happen overnight. Something happened between you two."

"Nothing happened!" Chase told her, making it clear that he didn't want to say anything more, and bent down under the desk to plug the dock he had unplugged earlier. He chose the song _Moonlight Sonata_, for reasons best known to himself of course, and left Cameron and Foreman to exchange weird 'what the hell' glances between themselves as he closed his eyes and thought of House playing his piano.

----

House was back, about an hour later, and Chase turned the music off, getting up to sit elsewhere so House could have his chair. He kept the tennis ball though. House flipped through some X-ray scans and frowned, looking up at Chase.

"Am I mistaken in believing you were the one to take these X-ray scans, Dr. Chase?" He asked, visibly displeased with something. Chase gulped; "Yeah… What's wrong with them? They're pretty much clean to me." House grunted and took the X-rays over to the light board, hung them up and turned to his ducklings.

"Who sees the problem here? There's candy in it for you." House told them, however there was no amusement in his voice at all. Foreman was the only one to get up and go see, whilst Cameron narrowed her eyes, looking at the X-rays from the other side of them room, and Chase just sat there, worried. What was wrong with his X-rays? Was House angry?

"There are no abnormalities…" Foreman stated slowly.

"Look at her toes. Either she literally has two left feet or you X-rayed the wrong leg. _Twice_." House said, seething. "Chase, what were you THINKING?" He snarled, before Chase had the chance to say anything. "Foreman and Cameron, go do another X-ray."

The two did as they were told and left in a hurry, not keen on staying in the room with an angry House and a pissed Chase. The Australian couldn't believe it – how could he have X-rayed the same leg twice? He thought around furiously, trying to recall what he could possible have been doing except the X-ray when it hit him; he'd been thinking about House. He hadn't been paying attention much because he was distracted.

He remained seated, waiting for the blow he knew was coming.

But nothing came.

House was pacing about behind his desk, playing with his yoyo, when he suddenly said, in a cracked voice; "Just leave… go do my clinic hours. Come back later, I'll give you a ride home." Chase didn't reply but, obliged for a chance to get away without being yelled at, went down to the clinic.

He didn't know what was worse. He could tell House was disappointed at him, but was he really angry? What if this had destroyed everything that had happened last night and at lunch? Chase had felt like House was suddenly closer to him, but now… he was just afraid of being pushed away. Not that anything had happened, really. It was just that he had been happy at a chance with his boss.

But now he felt so bad. He wished House would have shouted, or punished him; then, maybe, it would have been over. But, he guessed he would have to deal with House's anger later.

----

Chase was examining a rather stupid college girl he suspected had faked fainting to get out of a science class, when House came limping in.

"C'mon blondie, let's go." He said, winking. Chase knew he was talking about him, but the girl, who happened to be blonde, didn't.

"Excuse me?" She said, looking disturbed at being hit on by a man who was so clearly over forty. House looked at her with an exaggerated startled look, as if he had only just noticed her; "Well, I wouldn't say no to you too." He admitted. Chase rolled his eyes as the girl stared and told her not to worry, that she should probably just drink plenty of water and everything would be fine.

"Five forty-eight: Doctors House and Chase sign out. Write that down." House told the receptionist as they approached the desk. Once again, the woman glanced up at them, frowned, but wrote it down. Then they left. Chase followed him anxiously, dreading to think what would happen if Cuddy found out they had left so early.

The first few minutes of the drive were silently uncomfortable. Then Chase decided he couldn't deal with his guilt any longer; "Are you mad?" He asked House, twiddling his thumbs. His boss didn't answer until at least fifteen seconds later.

"No. Just disappointed."

"I'm sorry," Chase admitted, "I… don't know why I made such a stupid mistake." He said, deciding not to tell the real reason behind the error. House nodded and they were both silent once more.

Until Chase noticed they weren't heading towards either of their apartments. "Where are we going?" He asked his boss, who smiled. "I yelled at you. Now we have to make up, right? That's the basic procedure with girls anyway…"

"I know. I _have_ had girlfriends before you know." Chase told him inertly, thought it sounded a little angry.

"Of course I do." In fact, he didn't sound like he believed him at all.

"I'm not gay!" Chase exclaimed, for the second time in less than twenty-four hours.

"Of course you're not." House agreed, definitely grinning now.

"We kissed _once_." Chase affirmed, "It didn't mean anything."

"Of course it didn't." House parked the car in front of a restaurant Chase had never seen before. "I hope you like Indian." He told his employee, stepping out of the car before the latter could tell him if he did or not.

----

Cuddy stopped writing and sighed as she heard a knock. "Come in," she called out, greatly expecting to see House, probably here to rant about a useless something or another. Most likely about Voglar…

Surprisingly, it was Cameron.

"What did House do now?" Cuddy asked, putting her pen down.

"Nothing actually. We can't find him anywhere." Cameron told her a little nervously, as though she anticipated Cuddy to be mad at _her_. Instead, the Dean of Medicine sighed harshly and got up; "Seriously, that man has no common sense! I thought the message I gave him was clear," she looked at Cameron, though she was obviously talking to herself, "that he should at least _try_ and behave with Voglar around…"

Cameron followed Cuddy down to the reception where the nurse at the reception told her House had left.

"He left! At _five forty-eight_! I don't believe it." Cuddy cried out angrily. The nurse held out her notebook so she could check and Cuddy frowned. "He left with… Chase?" The nurse nodded but it was Cameron who spoke; "Those two came in together this morning, too!"

Cuddy turned to stare at her and closed her eyes. "This is so bad," She muttered, and promptly left, leaving Cameron in her wake.

----

"WILSON! Pinch me, I must be asleep."

Wilson jumped as Cuddy came in his office, practically bellowing. The two stared at each other for am moment, then: "Um, what's the matter Lisa?"

"House. It would _seem_, that he and Chase came in together this morning and that they left together just now."

"They left together too?!" Wilson gasped, eyes widening, "It's barely past six!" Cuddy scowled at him; "You already knew about this morning?" She asked, sounding very displeased. Wilson flinched. "Well, yeah… but when I asked House, he told me to drop it so…"

"So you dropped it? Wilson, I know you're his friend but we really have to stop this: he's going too far. I don't want him to hurt Chase."

"I'm not eager on Chase getting hurt either, believe me… I just don't want House to be hurt either." The oncologist folded his arms and sat more comfortably on his chair. "What do you mean?" Cuddy frowned, and Wilson scratched the back of his head, thinking; "Well, what if it's real? Let's say that, hypothetically, Chase and House are… in love…"

Cuddy looked deeply concerned, and took a seat in front of the desk.

"Maybe… I guess. But wouldn't House have told you? It's just so… absurd. House is obviously into women isn't he?"

"I don't know what to think Lisa. I spoke with Cameron earlier," Wilson started, reassuringly, "she came to ask me if I knew what was going on. I told her I had no idea, but she said they had lunch together today… That really made me think you know? I mean think about it: if they were just sleeping together or something of the sort, they wouldn't have lunch together. If I know House, at least." Both Cuddy and Wilson fell silent, lost in their own thoughts and theories.

"What if," Cuddy reflected slowly, staring at the surface of the desk, "Maybe we're over reacting to this? I mean, you sleep at House's sometimes… Maybe he and Chase are just friends."

"It's a possibility I guess. I'm pretty sure House would have told me, then again, House can be… well, House. We can't know for sure, it's just that I supposed they were something other than just friends because House just… doesn't have friends." Wilson agreed thoughtfully. Cuddy smirked with difficulty; "Maybe… we'll just have to wait and see."

----

"Thanks for the dinner…" Chase mumbled slightly as House drove him home. House had won the fight over the bill, which was strange because Chase knew how much House hated to pay – he always managed to have someone pay for him somehow.

The car stopped in Chase's driveway but before the Australian could thank House again and leave, the latter turned to him and said; "Wilson spoke to me today. About you. He seemed to think I'm taking advantage of you."

"What advantage could you get from me –"

"He thinks I'm having sex with you." House reformulated, making Chase glad it was so dark; hopefully, House wouldn't notice him blushing.

"But… How can he think that? It's barely been a day! Since we've been friends I mean!" Chase stammered.

"Yeah. So, you want to be my friend?" House asked, sounding very un House-like once more today. Chase smiled, feeling pathetic; "Of course I do. You're an interesting person, House, however ordinary you think you are… well, you're not." House looked into the Aussie's eyes, perceptible in the dim light coming from outside the car, with such emotion in his own blue ones that Chase couldn't look away. It couldn't be clearer that his boss couldn't find the words to express what he was feeling. Chase vaguely wondered if House had ever been in love.

And they kissed. Neither of them knew what had possessed them to crash their lips together at that same precise moment, but reasons were soon laid aside. Lips moved, tongues danced, teeth collided, breaths mingled, hearts merged, and they finally broke apart after what had seemed for both of them like an eternity.

Chase gaped at his boss; what would he think now?

It was hard to tell; House was staring directly in front of him, fingers drumming the steering wheel. "That was a friendly kiss." He stated, making Chase laugh quietly. "Yeah sure. Goodnight House. Thanks again." The door of the car opened and the blond walked out to his apartment. He needed to be in his own stuff for a while, to mull things over.


	4. It's All Been Done

Hey, boy do I love you guys, eh? I've decided to upload this faster then I had predicted… Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it really means a lot to me! That's all I have to say I guess… here you go!

**Chapter Four**

**It's All Been Done**

_You go your way, I go mine  
But I'll see you next time  
It's all been done  
It's all been done  
It's all been done before_

----

"Where were you two?!" Cameron screeched as House came into the conference room, alone today. He stopped to glance at her strangely and went to the whiteboard. "Why am I suddenly two people?" He asked, smirking at her as he twiddled the whiteboard pen between his fingers. Cameron sighed, dropping her arms to her sides heavily.

"You know what I mean! Now, while you and _Chase_ were out doing God-knows-what, our patient had respiratory arrest. Foreman drained the fluid from her lungs. She's stable… We sent the fluid to the lab, they told us it should be back this morning. You'll be happy to know Chase's mistake didn't cost us; she really doesn't have a clot. However, Cuddy's not happy you left yesterday. At all."

House stared at her, then he frowned. Turning to the board, where the new symptom was written in Cameron's handwriting, and started to twirl his cane. He went to sit at the table, closed his eyes for several minutes, snatched Foreman's coffee out of his hands and drank it down, ignoring the "Hey!" of complaint he received, and went back to the board.

Wiping it clean with the eraser, he wrote: _psych symptoms, withholds pain, control, _and after a short pause, _shama. _Then, he turned to his two ducklings; Chase had yet to arrive. "Ok, scram," he snapped, "Cameron: take half my remaining clinic hours, and Foreman'll take the other half. Chase did four yesterday, but since Cuddy has so generously bestowed me with an extra set of hours to do, there are eight left. Perfect, no one gets to do more than anyone else: everybody's happy!"

"What about you?" Cameron asked as she and Foreman got up.

"I'll go pay a visit to our little Miss CEO…" He answered as he strolled away.

----

_Tap tap_, went the cane on the table, making Wilson jump. He looked up at House, who was looking somewhat disturbed. He wondered how he had known that he was outside trying to relax, but shook it off as he started; "What's going on? Where _were_ you –"

"Carly needs a heart transplant." He stated, interrupting his friend in the middle of his rambling.

"Never mind that now! You –"

"My patient needs a heart, or she will die, Wilson! Chase, on the other hand, will still be breathing later on." House said, rather harshly.

"How do you know? I looked over the test results with Cameron and Foreman yesterday because _you weren't there_, but nothing indicates a heart problem… Did her lung fluid tests return?" House started to pace back and forth behind Wilson. "I… can't tell you. Professional responsibility."

"Yeah, like that matters to you." Wilson alleged.

"Not mine: yours."

"Oh, nice going House," he said sarcastically, "you know I'm going to go and rat you out to Cuddy the second you're done talking –"

"That's the problem. I'm not saying it'd please you to do it, I'm saying you'd be obligated to do so." House smirked at his own words, as though they aggrieved him and Wilson frowned, watching the cripple pace around. "Because of my position on the board?" When the only reaction House had was a 'go on' face, he went on, "My position on the Transplant Committee?" Still no response, but a 'maybe' look was shot at him. "C'mon House, you're telling me for a reason!"

"I can't tell you!" House virtually shouted at him, just as Cameron and Foreman came running over to them, looking disgruntled and out of breath. "Carly needs a new heart House…" Cameron said, causing Wilson to stare at his friend who had a pained expression again. "If you come with us, we can get her on the list by –"

"She's already on the list." House stated calmly, looking at the hospital behind Cameron, who made a made a face; "What? How?"

"Come on." House told them, walking back up to the hospital. Cameron and Foreman exchanged looks but followed House nonetheless.

----

Chase rolled out of bed, panicked, when he heard his pager beep. Damn. He had left it open on the nightstand, too tired to remember to turn it off. He'd stumbled into his apartment last night with a slight headache, so he hadn't been feeling up to going to work this morning. After shutting his alarm-clock off, brushing his teeth and undressing, he'd gone strait to bed. He sighed as he read his pager message: WHERE ARE YOU? -CAMERON, and groaned when another one came in: HOUSE IS PISSED. –CAMERON. A third one appeared, the beeping sound really grating his nerves now: YOU'D BETTER GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE. OUR PATIENT IS DYING, NO VACATIONS. –HOUSE.

Guessing he really had no other choice, Chase went to take a quick shower, got dressed and took an apple to eat on his way out, a feeble excuse for breakfast, but better than nothing.

House cornered him as soon as he signed in at PPTH. It seemed he'd been awaiting him nearby as he grabbed him by the arm and lead him into exam room four – the very same room in which they had kissed that first time – and locked the door after them.

"I brought my ass," Chase told him, mocking House's pager message and earning him a slight smile, "What's wrong with Carly?" House cocked his head and raised an eyebrow; "Carly? Ah, yes! The woman with two left feet!" House exclaimed rather spectacularly. Chase rolled his eyes; "I thought we'd made up?"

"Correction: I made up with you for yelling. You're not forgiven for your mistake, so, unfortunately, I'm still eligible to mock and taunt you about it." House informed him, grinning. "I wasn't aware we had rules now." Chase said, and House flicked his hand at him.

"Well anyway, we found that Carly needs a heart transplant. I lost no time in putting her on the list. Unluckily, thanks to you, we lost time in finding what exactly she has. If we had been quicker, she would have been assured a heart. But, by the time I submitted her, there was only one available. So now I have to attend a meeting to explain why she should be the one to get it." House explained looking somber; Chase rolled his eyes again.

"Isn't this over reacting? I know you don't like meetings but if you can get our patient a heart…" Chase reflected out load, not eager on having a 'House ranting about work' session. Said cripple mumbled unintelligibly, before staring strait at Chase, looking ashamed somewhat.

"I did something really bad Chase… I told the patient I would get her a heart, but I'm going to have to lie to the Committee. She's not qualified to receive a heart because she's a bulimic: she takes Ipecac to induce vomiting. And she cuts herself."

Chase stared. "Then… don't lie. If they find out, you'll lose your medical license!"

"I know, but… she really needs that heart." Chase had never seen his boss like this because of a patient. This was impossible… House always had the answer! He didn't know what to tell him but luckily, House still had something to say; "The only way I can safely lie to the Committee is if… you help me." Chase didn't talk, awaiting his boss's proposition. "Find the Ipecac bottle, and eliminate any other clues that could lead to someone finding out."

"No way…" Chase shook his head, "do you want to get us both fired?!" He asked incredulously.

"No, I want to save myself from getting fired, hence you too, because if I get the sack, so do you three: the whole department goes." House explained calmly. Chase continued to look unbelieving; "What if I get found out?"

"I'll forgive you." House said, an emotion Chase had never seen in him before illuminating his facial features, "If you do it, I'll forgive your mistake."

Chase felt his pulse accelerate; "I must be crazy to say this but, okay, I'll do my best…" He said slowly, hardly even believing himself. "In the meantime," House continued, "We'll have to act like I'm pissed off at you, and that you're scared I'm going to fire you. Otherwise, Cameron will definitely know something's up, and next this you know we'll have both Wilson and Cuddy breathing down our necks."

The Australian nodded but didn't speak or leave. Neither did House. That's when Chase walked up to his boss, placed an open palm over his heart and gave him a slow, meaningful kiss. House didn't really respond to it, merely deepening it a little before Chase stepped back. They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment and Chase turned and left House alone to contemplate what had happened.

----

Carly was asleep. Probably under heavy dosage of sedatives; her condition was starting to deteriorate. It was perfect for Chase: this way, he could pretend to be checking her condition while rummaging through her purse unnoticed. He found the little bottle easily enough and pocketed it just as he heard the door open swiftly behind him. He jumped much more then he would have wanted to and turned so fast he felt his neck and lower back crick.

It was Wilson.

"Do you know where House is?" The oncologist asked, looking at him suspiciously. Chase forced himself to keep a composed face but tried to sound bitter as he answered, remembering he wasn't supposed to like House. But the taste of House lingered on his lips as he licked them nervously. "Nope. Did you try the conference room?"

"Of course I did, it's attached to his office." Wilson said pleasantly enough, though he still looked suspicious. "Maybe he's in the clinic?" Chase tried, but Wilson had yet another answer; "No, he's making Cameron and Foreman do his hours. Why aren't you doing them too?"

"I did my share yesterday." Chase told him, before realizing he'd just said exactly what Wilson wanted him to say. Crap.

"Right before you left with him?" Wilson was sounding a little less pleasant now, "Where were you?" Chase didn't answer, not wanting to say anything that could sound fishy. "Alright then… What are you doing now? We both know there's no point in examining Carly right now." With still no answer form Chase, Wilson started to get annoyed: "Listen, whatever it is House is making you do in here; it's bad. I don't know what's going on, but trust me, I know House."

Chase finally spoke. "Why are you telling me this if you don't know what you're talking about?" Wilson sighed and walked up to Chase, who tightened his grip on the bottle in his pocket by reflex. "I saw the way you got all tense and nervous when I came in, Chase. And I also know something's going on between you and House because when he doesn't tell me something, it's always because it's something he really, _really _shouldn't be doing. I just want to help you."

"You're wrong," Chase took a step back. "Chase… the last time House was with someone, he really screwed it up. I don't think he's ready to –"

"What are you talking about?! I'm not – House isn't my _lover _or something! We're friends, goddammit!" Chase shouted, but before he knew it, everything he'd been keeping bottled up inside him these past few days came bursting out for Wilson to hear: "House _kissed_ me! And then, he was nice to me… I just, want a chance with him you know? But he doesn't seem to want me to come closer, and then you're telling me I shouldn't like him! But… but, I do. I really do."

Wilson looked at him with compassion, not really knowing what to say, having not expected Chase to come out like this. The Aussie looked embarrassed at himself for letting Wilson see such a secret part of himself. The oncologist put his hands on Chase's shoulders and smiled sympathetically; "House… can't love right now. I know it's probably hard for you to understand, but I know him better than anyone. He'll use people for his own benefit, then throw them away." Chase shook his head. "No… you don't know what you're saying. I'll know House likes me. Just… leave me alone."

Wilson made a faint smirk, but complied.

Chase wiped the tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes, his vision blurring, and decided to go to the conference room. If Cameron and Foreman were there too, he'd be safe from Wilson's inquiries. But first, he thought he'd better go to his locker and stow the Ipecac away safely.

Unfortunately, things were only getting worse: as he made his way to the locker room, he walked strait into Cuddy, who bounded back and frowned at him. "What are you doing? You're not leaving early are you?" She asked suspiciously – the only rooms that were around here were bathrooms and locker rooms.

"No, I forgot… my… pager." He said, struggling to find some excuse. Cuddy raised an eyebrow; "Right. Really, what are you doing? Does this have something to do with House?" Chase growled rather louder than he had wanted to, making Cuddy look alarmed.

"Why should it always have to do with House? First Wilson, now you. What is so wrong about this? Can't House and I just… be left alone?" Cuddy looked at him strangely. "House doesn't like people. That's why it's so hard to understand." She told him as-a-matter-of-factly, making Chase groan.

"He likes me." He affirmed before walking around Cuddy and towards the lockers. _What if Cuddy and Wilson are right,_ he thought, _maybe House really doesn't like me? Am I just a game to him?_

Chase finally got to his locker, hurriedly opened it, and took out the bottle, fumbling with his bag. "What's that?" Came a voice behind him. The Australian turned, banging his back against the locker beneath his, hiding his hands behind himself. It was Cuddy. His heart beating unusually fast, he stammered; "What's what? And... this is a boy's locker room –"

"And I'm the Dean of Medicine. Now what are you hiding?" Cuddy snapped, losing her temper completely. "Nothing! You just surprised me." Chase told her, trying to put the bottle in his bag behind him without her noticing. Alas, Cuddy was pretty sharp and she saw his arms moving. "Show me your hands Chase." She ordered. The doctor placed the bottle in the locker and put up his hands, but it seemed the Ipecac had been to close to the edge seeing that as soon as his hands were up, it fell to the ground, bouncing and rolling towards Cuddy.

Chase winced as she bent to pick it up, staring at the label.

"This is… Chase, are you bulimic?" She asked sorrowfully, making Chase shake his head frantically; "No, it's not mine… damn!" He turned to face his locker and slammed his fists on the neighboring ones. He heard Cuddy gasp: "House's patient! He was going to lie to the Transplant Committee… And you're helping him? Chase, I thought better of you." Chase turned to face her with scared eyes; "What are you going to do?"

Cuddy's shoulders drooped. "I won't tell. Voglar wouldn't let it pass. However, if I _ever _find out you have compromised either of your positions again by doing something as stupid as this, I will fire you. And House. Do you understand me?" Chase nodded, ashamed. "So Carly won't get the heart will she?" He asked.

"Did I say that? This is a warning, but I won't punish anybody." Cuddy said importantly and left; "Now excuse me I have a meeting with the Transplant Committee in ten minutes." Chase returned her smile with a grin that plainly said _thank you._

As soon as the door closed after her, Chase closed his locker, leant against it and let himself sink to the floor, resting his head upon his knees and released a heavy sigh. He wondered about House. What would he say if Chase told him he like him? Would he laugh? Chase could easily imagine him doing something of the sort. Then again, they had kissed three times now. Didn't that mean something? House said it didn't, however there was often a great difference between the things House says and what he really thinks. He guessed there was only one way to know for sure…

----

Foreman looked up lazily as Chase came in the room. Cameron was pacing, looking nervous. She stopped when she saw him; "House is in a meeting! He's trying to get the heart for Carly…" Chase nodded, "I know, he told me." Then he poured two cups of coffee and forced one on Cameron; "Relax. House knows what he's doing." He told her, going to sit down. She absent-mindedly took a sip before talking.

"Don't you think it's weird how House put Carly on the list before we actually got the test results?" She asked. Foreman looked suddenly interested, and closed his newspaper while Chase shrugged; "It's House. He… knows things." He told her, distinctly away of how lame it sounded.

"He does, but usually he always tells us exactly how he miraculously figured it out. Not this time, though." Foreman said, looking from Chase to Cameron. Chase shrugged, not knowing what he could say to defend House that wouldn't be too shifty. They all fell silent, Foreman returning to his paper, Chase and Cameron drinking their coffee, frequently exchanging looks.

House returned shortly. Cameron shot up as he limped in; "I did it." He told them simply. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; Foreman said; "That's great" and Cameron ran her hand through her hair before opening her mouth to speak. Chase had to keep himself from panicking – he knew what she was going to say. She was going to ask House how he had know about the heart. In barely a fraction of a second his decision was made: he had to do something surprising enough to distract Cameron and make her forget.

So Chase did something on pure adrenaline because he'd never have had the guts on other circumstances: he got up quickly, walked up to House and hugged him. He felt the other man's body twitch, then relax into his embrace. House was smart: he'd probably guessed why Chase was doing this. As he felt his boss's hand stroked his hair, he stepped back, grasping House's forearms, and said happily; "I knew you could do it!" House smiled at him - it was small and disappeared rapidly, but it was there.

Trying not to smirk, he went back to his chair as if nothing unusual had happened and saw his colleagues' faces: Cameron had her mouth open, staring at him and Foreman was frowning slightly, his coffee mug halfway to his mouth. House walked to the whiteboard and erased its contents. _Now everything is surely over_, Chase thought, or rather hoped, as he watched his boss go into his office.

"What was that?" Cameron rounded on him disbelievingly. "What do you mean? I was happy for him." Chase told her calmly. She stared. "You hugged House! And he let you. He – you – are you two together?" She asked finally. Her question sounded like a relief to her, as if she'd been wanting to ask for a while but couldn't.

"No." Chase said and she shot him a 'Oh come one!' look. "Really! We're not." Cameron shook her head, clearly not believing him, but Chase didn't care: let her think whatever she wants. It didn't matter anymore.

----

It was time to leave. Cameron and Foreman were gone, only Chase and House remained. The Australian was watching his boss who, on the other side of the glass door, was miming piano again, this time to _Baba O'Riley_, by _The Who_. Chase wanted to talk to him but didn't feel like disturbing him: he looked so happy. Like always when he's doing something related to music.

But someone entered House's office and shut the music off. Chase recognized him as Edward Voglar, the new chairman. The two spoke for a minute or two before House turned his iPod back on, which played an overly joyful tune – ruining the dramatic ending to the conversation he had wanted to produce. The music stopped again and Voglar left, leaving House looking pretty disgruntled.

Chase decided to go in before something else happened. "What did Voglar want?" He asked House, picking up the tennis ball. The older man gave a non-committal shrug, silently warning Chase to drop the subject. Before he could decide on saying what he'd been waiting the whole day to say, House spoke; "What was that hug for? You know Cameron's never going to shut up about this…" Chase rubbed his forehead under his hair. "She was going to ask you about the heart thing – I had to distract her."

"Couldn't you have chosen something else? Like kissing Foreman or something… Something not involving _me_?" House asked snappily. Chase stared, and was about to walk away angrily when he collected himself and decided to drop it. It was now or never:

"So… no work tomorrow right?" The Aussie asked apprehensively. House smirked at him, "That's right, it's a day off." Chase scratched the back of his neck, sighing. House knew what he yearned for: he just wanted Chase to _ask_ him. "You… want to hang out? Do something, I don't know, cinema, or whatever…?" House's smile faltered, causing Chase's heart to sink. He suddenly felt so stupid; of course House didn't want to! He had better things to do then to hang out with him…

"Sure, why not? I'll pick you up at ten." House said while he gathered up his things on his desk and put them in his bag. Chase stared, wondering if he'd daydreamed off for a moment, until House waved his hand in front of his face; "Chase? I'll be there at ten, AM okay?" Chase nodded frantically, feeling himself blush slightly. House smiled mockingly; "You're such a girl" he told his employee as he walked out of his office.

Chase followed without a word and watched him lock his door and walk off without them exchanging looks or speaking.

What was going to happen now…? House undeniably knew Chase liked him now; so did he agree just to humor him, or did he really want to spend the day with him?


	5. Shoebox

Hey, new chappie again! How you like this one, I really put quite some effort into it. I've been writing it since this morning! Um, yep, so I still don't own House or the characters, and if you don't like MaleXMale, don't read this. Although, what the hell are you doing here if you don't like it??

Once again, huge thanks to everyone who reviewed and/or put this in their favorites. I love you!

**Chapter Five**

**Shoebox**

_My shoe box  
Shoe box of lies  
Shoe box  
Shoe box of lies_

_Did somebody tell you  
This is how it's supposed to be?  
Or did you just find it  
And you don't want any more from me?_

----

Ten AM came and went. It wasn't until ten thirty four exactly on Chase's watch that there were clunky steps followed by a knock on the door. It opened immediately, revealing a surprised House. Chase smiled slightly as he resisted the urge to laugh – House didn't know he'd been waiting for nearly an hour by the door, eyes glued to his watch. He'd been a little worried that his boss wouldn't show up. He didn't know what he would've done if that had been the case.

"Well, you're certainly ready I see…" House stated, uncomfortable. Chase nodded, looking at him; he was wearing a dark blue chemise, topped with a brown tweed coat and light grey jeans. Chase looked very different with his black jeans, Guns N' Roses t-shirt and leather jacket. "So… what do you want to do?" Chase asked, hinting for House to come in as they were still in the doorway. House hesitated, then cleared his throat; "There's this nice café a few blocks away where I like to eat, do you want to…?" He left his question unfinished but Chase smiled. "Sure!"

So Chase followed the cripple outside where his motorcycle was parked, stopping when he saw it, making House grin devilishly; "I was right in guessing you've never rode a motorbike before then? I thought it'd be fun for you to try." Chase didn't reply but nodded, watching House climb on it with much expertise and lock his cane onto the side with some straps. As he sat behind House, he was handed a helmet. He didn't take it; "No… it's yours House, you're driving!" The latter shook his head and pushed it into his hands, "I wouldn't want you to die because of me. Besides, you're younger." Guessing he had no choice, even though he knew House was only demanding _he_ put on the helmet for the sake of gallantry, Chase put it on and placed his hands on House's hips lightly. However, as the bike came to life and sprang forwards with surprising speed, the Australian found he had to tighten his grip a lot if he didn't want to fall off.

Being on a motorcycle with House was scary at first as they turned sharp corners and winded between cars, sometimes stopping at red lights only to burst forth with life and speed afterwards, but he felt safe holding onto House's warm body. He could sense the passion with which his boss drove the bike; the same way as a knight on a horse, or a violinist playing a melody with rigueur and splendor. One could imagine House felt as though he were flying rather then driving as he guided them quickly, swiftly through the streets.

They slowed down at last and came to a stop in front of a small café Chase had never seen before. As he was looking at it, he was lifted off the bike by force when House stood up, having not let go of his waist. House made a smirk of amusement at his employee as he stumbled clumsily off the bike and detached his helmet, handing it back to its owner. Neither spoke until they were seated in the café.

"Did you enjoy the ride?" House asked after they had both ordered their food. "Yeah, it was… special. I had never done that before." House nodded, absent-mindedly playing around with the salt bottle. They were silent again until their food arrived, and when it did, they spoke awkwardly about various uninteresting things such as the weather and work. It seemed as if it was much harder for them to have a casual conversation when they were this away of what was customary for them; this being them in lab coats (in Chase's case) and surrounded by other doctors. But now they were in a little coffee shop, expecting each other to act as if they were _friends. _

House interrupted Chase's current rambling about them all being caffeine addicts; "Cameron," he said loudly, to cover the Australian's voice, "likes me." Chase stopped talking, "I'm sorry, what?"

"She told me why she's been acting so weird this week – she feels as though everyone hates her. When I assured her that, in fact, everyone likes her, she asked me… If _I _like her." House told him, barely concealing his smirk. "What did you tell her?" Chase asked, astonished.

"I said no." House told him simply. "She looked hurt afterwards, so I supposed I hadn't given her the answer she had wanted." Chase stared; "_That's_ why she was so miserable! She was looking so nervous all the time. Oh, she must feel so unwanted –"

"I just don't want her too close to me. Her or… anyone." House said, playing with the salt again and looking anywhere but at Chase, who spoke quietly; "yet… here you are with me."

House glanced at him with incredible softness in his eyes instead of his usual harsh look. "I… you're different."

"How so?" Chase pressed on, making House sigh – he couldn't evade his employee any longer.

"You're intriguing, Chase. Listen… Five years ago, I made myself a promise never to embark on a relationship with anyone again." House paused to take a drink of his water and went on when he saw Chase's rapt face. He was put of by the Australian's interest in his story, but continued nonetheless; "I lived with a woman called Stacy for five years before I had my leg accident. My infraction destroyed my relationship with her. You see, the doctors misdiagnosed me, which caused my quadriceps muscle to die… I nearly died myself – I was in cardiac arrest for a whole minute. Afterwards, I demanded a chemically induced coma to get through the pain, only to wake up and find out that I had lost use of my leg because of Stacy's decision as my medical proxy to not amputate my leg but just remove the dead muscle. I just couldn't forgive her. I… pushed her away and we ended it."

Chase blinked as House trailed off: "It pained me so much that I decided to… never let anyone come close." His employee sighed; "You don't want anyone to love you because you don't want to disappoint them? Or you don't want to get hurt again?" Chase understood by House's nod that he was spot on. He gazed at his boss with compassion, gulped, and placed his hand over the older man's, squeezing slightly. He felt the hand underneath his shudder, as if House feared this simple contact, but it quickly dissipated as their eyes met.

"I'm not disappointed by you. And I don't want to hurt you." Chase said, the fluttering sensation in his stomach worsening by the second. He ignored it, tired of letting himself being walked on by his emotions. House's eyes widened as he understood what chase's words meant. Chase hastily stammered; "We don't have to rush this! Just… take your time, House; I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do." He lifted his hand off of House's but House grabbed it before he could take it back, placing his own on top of Chase's: "I'll think about it… today. But, thanks."

"Um, okay. Sure." Silence fell once more, as House let go of his employee's hand. What had he been thinking… sharing that story with Chase? It was too soon wasn't it? Or maybe not… if this went on, he would have had to tell him someday… They had finished lunch, paid at the counter and left the café. House put his hands in his pockets and looked at Chase, who was glancing at his watch.

"So, I was thinking we could see a movie. Wasn't it you who suggested it?" House said out of nowhere causing Chase to look at him, startled. He'd obviously thought it was over. But apparently, it wasn't, House reflected, having not really planned anything special. He suddenly felt a little cheap. Which was strange – he hated paying for things and doing stuff with people. Chase nodded; "Yeah! Um… I did. So what movie?" House shrugged. He never went to the cinema: how should he know what movies there were to see…? "We'll choose when we get there I guess." He said.

----

It turned out there weren't many interesting movies to see, in House's opinion, as they looked around at the posters. _Or maybe it's just because I'm a grumpy jerk who generally just doesn't like anything_, he thought, smirking at himself.

So he let Chase decide. He probably didn't think anything looked good because it took him awhile, but he finally chose _The Pink Panther 2_. House didn't really want to see that movie, in fact he didn't feel like going to see any movie, but complied – he'd been the one to invite after all.

The movie was a much more fun experience than House had anticipated: they fought over the popcorn, breaking into muffled coughs as they tried not to laugh too loud, and they made abusive remarks at the movie, commenting on its absurdness and the stupidity of the characters. It had been a long time since House had enjoyed himself like this with someone other than Wilson. He kept thinking that anyone watching them would think they were acting like immature children, but he didn't care. He himself acted immature on a regular basis anyway.

The movie was over suddenly, and they had not watched much of it at all. They walked out, both of them feeling much more confident all of a sudden. Chase grabbed House's hand suddenly and gestured towards a nearby park. House stopped in his tracks on the way to his motorcycle, but nodded shortly and let himself be led by Chase; he had no idea what they could have done anyway. He felt Chase's hand squeeze his delicately, but it really felt different than a woman's hand. It was also very hesitant, probably because Chase was nervous.

Chase tried to ignore the fluttery feeling that had reappeared in his gut as they walked silently through the park. It was a strange feeling to hold House's hand, it kept unhinging because of his limp, but it was okay, Chase adjusted quickly. He enjoyed every moment of it as he grasped the hand and felt it squeeze back softly. His heart rose every time this happened but it was soon over as they got to a bench and sat down.

House practically slumped down on it, clutching his thigh slightly. It may have looked normal to anyone else, but Chase recognized that look – House was in pain. He probably wasn't used to walking so much. The Aussie looked down at his hands which he placed on his knees, twiddling his thumbs as he heard House pop a vicodin and breathe a heavy sigh of relief.

"That movie was awful," House said, a glint of humor slipping over his words. "Yeah," Chase agreed, "But it was nice to spend time with you." He added thoughtfully. House didn't respond, massaging his thigh. They spent a few minutes like this in peace, plainly enjoying each other's company. A man passed in the park with his ice cream stand which gave Chase something to say; "Do you want ice cream? It's on me…" Chase inquired. House nodded, "Yeah okay. Pistachio please." Chase went to the stand and got pistachio for House and strawberry for himself. The cripple thanked him with a nod of the head and began to eat his ice cream wordlessly until…

"You didn't ask why I was late this morning." He stated. Chase swallowed and turned to his boss, frowning. "No, why should I have asked? People are late sometimes, it happens to anybody." House agreed by nodding again, but went on. "Wilson came over."

"Why?" Chase asked, guessing he had nothing else to say seeing as House stopped there. "He wanted to ask about you. How I feel. Of course, when I told him I was spending the day with you, he was surprised." Chase frowned; "Why was he surprised? If he thinks you like me?"

"Well that's just it, he _doesn't_ think I like you," House told his employee, who looked confused, "He thinks I'm using you remember?"

"Oh, right."

"Yeah, well… Wilson being Wilson, he started being all hysteric telling me what I should wear and how to act and bla bla bla. So, that's it I guess, just something for you to look forward to tomorrow. Don't expect him to leave you alone with this, he's going to peck you like a woodpecker until you tell him _exactly _everything I said and did." House explained to him, not bothering to conceal his amusement. Chase took a few licks of his ice cream before speaking; "Why are you telling me this? To discourage me? I'm not going to back off. I still want to be with you." He said strait-forwardly. House looked at him speechlessly.

"That wasn't my intention. I was only… warning you. You'd better have something good to tell Wilson, or he won't leave you alone." House rephrased, overlooking Chase's comment and getting up, having finished his ice cream. "Coming?" He asked the Australian, who hastily put all that was left of his dessert into his mouth and standing up too. House turned and left, not waiting for him. Chase sighed and hurried after him, grasping his hand again. From the corner of his eye, he saw House smile as they walked back to his motorbike.

----

They went to House's apartment instead of Chase's for supper. House got off the bike and stored it away in the garage after Chase had gotten off too, this time a little more gracefully.

They had made progress today, Chase thought. The last time they had gone out, for supper after work at the Indian restaurant, they had talked mostly about work. But today they had been much more open; House had even revealed something pretty secret about himself. They slumped onto the couch when they came in, after removing their coats and shoes. Chase's decision was made as soon as he sat, turning to House: "My dad left when I was fifteen." He stated, House nodded, "yeah I know. And your mother died five years afterwards didn't she?" Chase gulped. "That's right… So he left me alone to take care of her and her alcohol problems. That's why I don't drink any. I drank a sip of that beer you gave me the other night but… I hate it. I really hate it. When I had to take care of her, I had nearly no time for myself. I wanted to do other things like go out, study and stuff, but I felt guilty whenever I left. That's why I hate my father."

House nodded; "I'm… sorry for you. It must've been hard." Chase mumbled incoherently before saying, "You're not sorry for me. You're just saying that."

"Maybe I am." House told him lazily.

"Sorry or just saying that?" Chase asked. House seemed to think for a moment. "Both." He said, before getting up and shouting from the kitchen; "I'm making spaghetti." Chase didn't answer, wondering what the hell that could mean. He was both sorry but he was also not sorry? It took a few seconds for him to realize House was probably messing around with him, and he went to join him in the kitchen.

"What about your parents? Do you see them much?" Chase asked, seating himself at the table, facing House, who stopped what he was doing to look up at Chase, then resumed his stirring of the pasta. "Haven't I told you enough about me today?"

"No. I mean, please… you always have to know everything about everyone, yet you cover yourself in such mystery, it's just disquieting, enthralling even –"

"Ooh, do I hear a poet speaking?"

"House." Chase said, with a plain 'shut up' look.

"Aw, you're no fun…" House told him quietly. After a few moments, he looked back at Chase; "Both my parents are still alive. I love my mother. I hate my father. What else is there to know?"

"Why do you hate your father?" Chase asked, sounding curious. House sighed, "He's… he's got an insane moral compass." He claimed, "if you see what I mean. And… he abused me." House finally said, showing no emotion whatsoever. Chase watched him closely, not knowing what he could say, and not wanting to ask more questions: he didn't want House to feel too uncomfortable. So he watched his boss prepare supper in silence.

The plates were set on the table and House sat down with a small grunt. He winced as he took a vicodin. "How many of those do you take per day?" Chase suddenly asked, though he knew House would probably either ignore him or reply evasively. "Enough to not be considered high." Was the answer. There you go.

"Right. Is that what you're so mad about all the time? Your leg?" Chase asked, deciding to push the conversation further. "No. I was always like this. Ask Cuddy. I'm just an old pissed off bastard."

"You're not… okay, you can be a bastard. But, as I once told you, you're an interesting person House." Chase told him, "Mmm, your spaghetti sauce is really –"

"Would interesting here mean you being interested in me?" House asked. Chase frowned slightly, "Yeah, that would be the… significance of interesting…" He said, unsure of what House really meant. He suddenly realized House had finished his whole plate and was waiting on Chase. "Or if you prefer, I'm attracted to you." The Australian finally decided on saying, earning him another blank look from House. "Do you want to sleep here again?" The older man asked, getting up and limping on one leg to the dishwasher with his plate in his hands. "Yeah… okay." Chase said, "But stop avoiding me dammit!" He shouted, abruptly coming to the decision that he was tired of this. Tired of House avoiding him and his questions. He got up and went to clear his plate too. He wanted answers! The older man watched him clean his plate and shut the dishwasher, leaning onto the counter behind his back with both hands.

Chase went back to the living-room and sat on the couch, frustrated. He heard House walk over; _clunk clunk_, and sit down next to him. There was a pause filled with nothing but the sound of their breathing, until; "When you'll stop saying everything you want to tell me in derisive words, I'll start answering you." House told him seriously. Chase looked around at him with wide eyes, that fluttering sensation in the pit of his abdomen was back.

"Nervous?" House asked, "Maybe it's the sauce, it was pretty spicy."

"I love you." Chase heard the words before his brain could understand that they had come from his mouth. He heard House make a sound that sounded like a tiny gasp of surprise, but Chase silenced him by kissing him roughly. House kissed back immediately, their bodies responding to the other's in every way possible as they grasped at each other's clothes, hair and face, desperately fighting over positions. House stood up, making Chase stagger as he rushed to follow him in his ascent. The cripple backed away slowly on one leg and Chase followed, careful to not step on his toes or make him fall.

Short of breath, they separated. House wiped his mouth on his sleeve, staring at Chase with frivolity: "That's clear enough for me." He said, smiling. Chase positively beamed, suddenly feeling much more confident. All the stress had gone away now, replaced by a wonderful feeling of control. House walked into his room and removed his keys and wallet from his pocket, turning back to Chase, who had followed him. The Australian put his wallet next to House's and stared back, not in the least intimidated now.

"Another round?" House invited, placidly moving forwards. Chase was much rougher; this was the effect of several days of stress and anxiety wearing off at last.

House sat on the bed so he wouldn't hit his knees as Chase brought their lips together again. A beautiful feeling of content took hold of House as he lay back and let Chase climb on top of him. "Just… let – yourself – feel–" Chase sighed between kisses, feeling that House was tense.

House moaned slowly in response to Chase's movement, which Chase took for a yes seeing how House's body immediately relaxed.

----

House gave one last sigh and lay down as Chase snuggled into the back of his neck beneath the covers and smiled, kissing House's shoulder softly. He put his arms tight around his boss's naked chest and underneath his arms, and fell asleep.


	6. Call And Answer

This may be hard to believe, but this chapter is only a transition chapter. It was waaaay longer to write than I had thought it would be, that's why I didn't update yesterday…

Well, here you go!

**Chapter Six**

**Call And Answer**

You think I'm only here to witness  
The remains of love exhumed  
You think were here to play  
A game of who loves more than whom

----

There was water running somewhere. Chase sat up quickly and noted House's absence: he was taking a shower. The Australian got up; shivering as the cold air hit his naked body, walked around the pile of clothes on the floor and went to the bathroom. The door wasn't locked so he opened it slowly. The warm air was a relief to him as he walked in, tiptoeing his way to the shower.

He stepped inside, pulling back the curtain and met House's surprised face. He took the shampoo bottle his boss had been holding and started to wash his hair too. "Good morning." He said, much more huskily then he'd intended to, but it made House smile. Chase rinsed his hair, and House moved in to kiss him, making the blond giggle; "You're going to get soap in your eyes…" He kissed him anyway and felt his employee smile.

Chase made waffles again that morning, much to House's content. Afterwards, they got dressed for work, Chase borrowed clothes from House, and they left. "Um, House? I'd rather we take the car today…" Chase said as his boss started towards the garage. He turned to him and shrugged. "Ok then." And they climbed into the car.

"Seven fifteen, Dr House and Dr Chase sign in." House said loudly to the nurse behind the counter. Right on cue, Wilson appeared, looking between curious and unnerved; looking from House to Chase. The oncologist led them to an empty exam room and there followed an uncomfortable silence. Wilson opened his mouth to speak once or twice, but kept closing it, scratching the back of his neck.

"Whatever it is you have to say to me, you're going to tell me. And Chase is staying." House told his friend callously. Wilson seemed to hesitate again, but he had no other choice.

"How was your day?" He asked House in particular, "did you… did it clarify… certain things that you… um…" he glanced at Chase nervously, "the things you told me you had certain concerns about…" Wilson finished lamely, as House smiled, clearly amused. "Everything is clear now." He said mysteriously. Wilson looked confused, then shocked. He nodded one last time and left hastily. House shot a pleased face at his employee as they came out of the exam room and walked to the conference room together.

Cameron and Foreman were searching through some files when they came in. "My, already at work I see! What're those?" House said, plainly to annoy Cameron, who looked up, annoyed; "Just because you round up six thirty to seven 'o clock, doesn't mean we're all procrastinators like you." She told him snappily before returning to her file. Foreman gave House an apologetic look; Cameron was obviously pissed about something.

House sent Chase to make coffee and sat down, pretending to read a file though it was upside-down: he was watching Chase. "What are you doing?" Cameron snapped, snatching the file from him, "either help us or not, but don't pretend to." Everyone looked at her in alarm. "You," House told her, "need coffee." He nodded to Chase who poured a third cup and brought it to the table, sitting down too.

Cameron put her head in her hands and sighed. "I don't need anything! Just leave me alone." She growled. "You're jealous." House stated. Chase hastily put his hand on House's forearm to stop him: "Don't push it." He warned his boss. The cripple bit his lip, torn between the desire to pick on Cameron and wanting to be nice to Chase. "Let me know when we have a case." House told them before going into his office, face stony.

"Why would I be jealous?" Cameron asked, more to herself than anyone else. Feeling uncomfortable, Chase decided not to say anything so he followed House into his office. "What was all that for? Why are you being so mean to Cameron –"

"Why did you stop me from telling her?" House shot back as he took a vicodin, wincing as he sat down. Chase crossed his arms, "Because it wouldn't be very nice to throw it in her face like that! She still likes you, you know?" Chase shouted at him, suddenly angry.

"What do you care? You're ashamed of me, admit it!" House shouted back, causing Chase to stare; "Is that what this is about…? I'm not ashamed House! I'm just concerned for Cameron. She doesn't look too good."

"So what? Let her deal with her problems! You got what _you _wanted didn't you? That is, getting in my pants!" House scoffed at him, practically shouting. Chase glowed at him and turned away; "Stop being such a cocky bastard and we'll talk." He said as he went back to the conference room and sat down. Upon entering, he noticed immediately that something was going on: Cameron and Foreman were both staring at him. "What?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

"You slept with House?" Foreman asked him, not looking at all disgusted; only surprised. "What kind of question is that? Of course not –"

"Chase, it's not that we were eavesdropping, it's just that it was hard not to hear when the walls are made of glass and you two are shouting like that." He apologetically told the Australian, who stared back at him, bewildered. "I…" he thought of what House had told him just now, "I, yeah okay. I slept with House." Chase admitted, deciding he couldn't do anything to try and undo what had been done. They would have found out one day or another anyway.

"So what's it like?" Foreman asked, jokingly, but still curious. Chase glared at him, not amused. Cameron remained speechless, avoiding his gaze. "But… Saturday you said you weren't with House…" She finally said, slowly, sounding as though she had a headache. Chase smirked; "I wasn't with him Saturday. We hung out yesterday and…" He left his sentence unfinished; he couldn't find the words to say. Cameron seemed to understand because she nodded silently.

The three continued to read through their stack of files when Cameron hummed, stood up and went to see House. A few moments later, they came into the room, House reading the file carefully. "I have to see Cuddy…" He announced before leaving with the file and a bunch of envelopes in his hand.

----

House returned with the file a little while after and gestured for his ducklings to follow him. Chase took the file and walked away from House, letting Foreman walk beside the boss. House took notice of this sudden resilience but didn't say anything. _Yet._

Chase was reading the file while everyone pitched ideas and, in the end, House told them to do an MRI, and look for anything else that could lead to their patient's current situation just as they got to the patient's room.

Cameron and Foreman went into the room immediately, while Chase hung back, looking at House defiantly. However, a man in a suit was waiting for him outside the room and House walked away to talk with him, without a second glance at Chase. The Australian felt a pinch in his gut and went join his colleagues.

House walked with the man, listening to his story about him being their patient's lawyer. "His name's Joey, he's my only brother." The man, Bill said. "He's important to you." House stated, pressing on the elevator button and glancing at him, "Got it. So no placebos on him – we'll use the real medicine." The elevator rang and he got on, the lawyer following close behind, looking disgruntled. "So just Joey's in the mafia?" House went on as the door closed, "I was hoping for a nickname. Joey Mango… Joey the Wrench…"

The lawyer punched the stop button and the elevator came to a halt. "People know where I am." House told him coolly. Bill turned to him; "I want you to do your job," he said with remarkable calmness, "Diagnose him, fix him, and keep him here." House bit his lip slowly; "we're a specialized hospital… you see, we generally only treat people when they're actually sick." Bill sighed angrily. "If you release my brother, and he does what the government wants, even if you fix him he's dead. I need time to convince him of that."

House thought around for a second, and nodded. Bill put the elevator back in motion and they were silent. The atmosphere was very tense until Bill spoke again. "Good news is, if you screw up you don't have to worry about a malpractice suit. Instead, one by one, I'll take away the things you love 'till there's nothing left." The lawyer told him very seriously, though a smirk had appeared at the corner of him mouth. House made a slightly disturbed face as he stepped off the elevator when it opened, saying; "So, about that mafia thing… it's a yes?"

----

"Chase." House called, as he entered the patient's room, though he stayed halfway in the doorway. The blond turned around with a 'what do you want now?' face, but House just signaled for him to follow with a nod of the head. Chase sighed, exchanging glances with his colleagues, and hurried after his boss. He followed him all the way to an empty classroom that served for the interns. House closed the door and looked around at the room; "You wanted to talk? Before I left with the patient's brother, didn't you have something to say to me?"

Chase didn't speak for a moment, considering the fact that, actually, House had noticed it when he'd hung back to talk to him… "Um yeah… I told Cameron and Foreman." He saw House raise his eyebrows. "And?"

"Well, nothing much… Cameron wanted to know since when we were together, and Foreman… made a rather inappropriate comment." House frowned, and Chase corrected: "Actually he just asked what it was like to sleep with you. But I think he was kidding." House grunted with a nod. "Right… Anything else?" Chase shook his head.

"No." House turned to leave, but Chase called out; "In fact, yes, there's something else. Tell me how you feel. I'm always the one who jumps in with the feelings and stuff… What about you?" House stopped with his hand on the doorknob.

"I… can't say for sure, Chase. I like spending time with you, honest, but… I don't know if I can sincerely say I love you back." As soon as he'd done talking, the cripple felt a pair of arms surround him by behind; "That's okay. I understand. Like I said before, take your time…" Chase told him, hugging him tight; "I just wanted to know what it means to you… What happened yesterday, this morning…"

House turned around and ruffled Chaise's hair. "I'm going to be really honest with you, it doesn't mean much right now."

Chase nodded. "I can wait. I only want to appreciate what I have at the moment for now." House smiled on of the rare true smiles Chase had ever seen from him, and their hug suddenly turned into something else as they crashed their mouths together for another one of those innumerable kisses since yesterday.

----

House entered the test lab, straitening his clothes – Chase had been quite rough… He saw Cameron looking uncomfortable while Foreman was looking at her sneakily. He vaguely wondered what that was about, but remembered his promise to Chase on not picking on Cameron. Instead, he walked around the room, looking at their test result files and stuff, distractedly thinking of Chase. Cameron answered his questions about their patient being a smoker but looked super-nervous when he came close to her.

House took note of it, but walked away without mentioning anything.

He was intercepted while he was coming out of his office for at lunch time by Chase. They met in the doorway, both stopping abruptly. "Um… want to have lunch with me?" Chase asked him with a fake kind of bravery in his voice – he was looking apprehensive. House smiled; "No, I told Wilson I'd eat with him. See you later." And the older man dodged Chase and walked away. He didn't look back at him so he could only imagine the look of disappointment he knew had appeared on the Aussie's face.

Wilson didn't look up from his computer as he entered. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he continued to type down whatever unimportant thing he was doing. Of course House had been lying to Chase, he hadn't actually promised Wilson to meet him. He opened his mouth to speak but was annoyed by his friend's lack of interest, so he bent down and unplugged the laptop.

"Hey! That was an important tax docu –" Wilson complained loudly.

"Oh shut up, I know how maniacal you are with your 'important documents': you save every three seconds. I came here to have a conversation with you – something you seem to have forgotten the meaning of." House told him superiorly.

"What are you talking about? God, do you listen to yourself talk sometimes, I swear to you –"

"This morning! Did _you _listen to _yourself _speaking; or rather, attempting to speak." House cut him off again, amused by his friend's discomfort. Wilson scratched his head; "Look, I wanted to ask what you did with Chase… That's all." House smirked. "Yeah, that's what I thought I heard through all the spluttering."

"Oh will you stop it! Listen… Don't you understand how weird this is? You and… _Chase! _Seriously, that's the last thing I would have imagined!" House nodded; "It's still a little weird to me you know? But of course, I know what you and Cuddy are saying behind my back: O-M-GEEE House is molesting poor little inoffensive Chase!" House finished by crudely imitating Cuddy's voice.

"We're not –," the oncologist stopped at the look House gave him and rearticulated, "Okay, we did have some concerns at first, I'll admit that. But we decided to let it go on for a while and see what happened."

"Okay, first, I am not molesting Chase, if that's really what you thought. Second, you and Cuddy have no power over who I date, therefore, that fact that you decided to _let it go on _means nothing." House said seriously. Wilson gaped at him; "You said 'date'… You have _feelings_ for him!"

House looked horrified at himself: "I do not! I…" He closed his eyes and growled; "I just don't know anymore Wilson. What should I do?" He said, popping a vicodin. Wilson smiled comfortingly; "You should listen to your heart more House. I'm not inside you; I can't know what you truly feel like." House nodded slightly. "You know I'm bad at that. I can't even understand what Chase feels like about this, how'd you want me to know how _I_ feel?"

"You should tell Chase about this. He'll help you, if he really has feelings for you." There was a silence as House recalled memories of last night; "He said he did. I mean, he plainly said," House made a tiny gulp, "_I love you._" Wilson smiled, "Well, I think that's good. But I can't say anything more really… You have to do the rest on your own." House sighed and stood up, looking at his friend one last time before he left with a look that meant 'thank you', even if he was incapable of saying it.

----

House was leaving the hospital when he heard steps behind him. "Hey!" And Wilson walked up next to him. He continued to walk but stopped suddenly.

"My car's been stolen." He said, looking around. Wilson looked at House's parking space and walked up to the red car that was suddenly parked there. "Or… reincarnated…" The oncologist said as he noticed a paper on the windshield. He took it and read; "Pink slip – a gift from the Arnello brothers…" The two stared at each other and started to walk around the car in awe.

"You know… they're gangsters, sure. But they're thoughtful too!" House said, smiling slightly. Wilson shook his head, "You… can't possible… keep it?" This make House smirk even more; "Yeah, right… what do you think a guy like Joey would do if someone turned down a gift? That's… kind of an insult!" House said, sounding as if he were reasoning but there was no question that he wanted to keep the car. "He might hurt you." Wilson said, smiling now, too, "It's definitely possible." House shrugged: "I'm screwed! Gotta take the car!" He said, as if it were the worst thing ever. The two laughed, but lost no time in seating themselves comfortable inside it.

----

"Hi Cameron." Chase said as he came into the conference room. She was reading a book so she didn't look up immediately. Before he had the chance to see what she was reading, she quickly threw the it in her purse and looked at him pleasantly, albeit a little flushed in the face; "Hi. You're still here?" She checked her watch, "Foreman left already and –"

"I'm looking for House." Chase told her, looking around through the glass door that led to their boss's office, but there was no one there and the lights were out. Cameron stared; "Oh. I'm sorry, I saw him leave with Wilson… about half an hour ago." Chase stopped. "What?! But… what a bastard!" He grumbled, sitting down with a heavy sigh. Cameron put a hand on his shoulder; "What's wrong? You didn't have a fight did you?" Chase shook his head.

"No, nothing like that – it's just that I came in with him this morning, so now I don't have ride. I guess I'll have to call him, don't know if he'll come get me though, stupid prick…" He said, restlessly passing his fingers through his hair. He caught a whiff of House's coconut scented shampoo, which only made him even more bitter as he thought of his boss in the shower… he shook his head and took out his cell phone when he heard Cameron say rather softly; "I can give you a ride."

Chase stared. "You… you don't have to! I mean, I don't want to bother you, if you live on the other side of town or something…"

"Oh no no no! It's perfectly okay!" She assured him, looking awkward. Chase shrugged, "Okay then, if it's okay. Thanks." He said gratefully, storing his phone away as they got up and left the room, locking the doors on their way out.

It was tense walking alone with Cameron at this hour in the PPTH because there was nearly nobody around. They got to Cameron's car in silence; the only thing Chase said as they entered her car was his address. Cameron was silent too all the way through the ride. When they got to Chase's apartment, the Australian thanked her and was about to leave when he said; "Do you want to come in? For something to drink I mean, you know…" He didn't know what had made him say that and he regretted it instantly, but Cameron smiled slightly. "Okay, sure. I've got nothing to do anyway."

So here they were in Chase's apartment. He awkwardly asked what she wanted to drink and she took plain water. He had a lump in his throat because he was pissed at House, but worried at his boss's reasons for leaving without him so he made himself a glass of water too. They sat on his couch, the very same couch where Chase had admitted his feelings last night – okay, this was getting annoying: why did _everything _he do remind him of House? Cameron coughed.

"I wanted to talk to you about House…" She said slowly. Chase invited her to go on by nodding with interest, so she did; "He probably told you that… that I, well…"

"That you like him." Chase finished for her. She looked at him with a sad look; "Yeah. So, I want to apologize for today. I may have seemed a little angry or even jealous; which was stupid. I think that… you belong with House. You just seem to fit so well." Cameron told him gently; Chase could clearly see she was truly sincere. Her words were really coming from her heart. "Thanks." Was all he could say to her. She appeared to have understood because she smiled at him, this time looking much happier.

"Reconciliation hug?" Chase invited with a grin, making Cameron laugh. She hugged him close, and they were suddenly less awkward, as if this had sealed their implicit friendship somehow.

Before they knew it, they were acting like old friends: sprawled on the sofa with popcorn, watching TV and laughing. They talked a lot about various things and found many common interests. They eventually fell asleep on the couch while watching Seinfeld re-runs.

----

There was a heavy knock on the door, making Chase jump. Everything was still dark and the lights coming from the flashing TV screen made his eyes water in pain. He reached for the lamp and a warm yellow light flooded the room. Cameron was sound asleep on the opposite couch, their unfinished fifth bowl of popcorn cradled in her arms.

Another booming knock sounded through the apartment. Chase checked his watch and frowned: who came to visit him at five thirty in the morning? He got up and groggily made his way to the door, opening it and finding his mouth rather invaded. He recognized House by smell and was forced to back away as his boss pressed onto him, closing the apartment door with one hand, grasping the front of Chase's shirt with his other.

As Chase backed away, he crashed into a small foot-cushion and they fell to the floor. They didn't stop making out however, House pressed further on and Chase happily complied to his unspoken desires by slipping off his boss's belt, throwing it across the floor and unzipping House's jeans.

They broke apart to breathe hastily, only to continue with renewed vigor. Chase knew he should have stopped to inquire about House's reasons for leaving without him last night but damn, House just felt so _good_… He was quickly lost in the enthrallment of it all when he heard a gasp. _Fuck: Cameron!!!_

They stopped kissing and turned to look at her. The whole scene froze, House on top of Chase, his jeans forgotten somewhere on the floor next to him, currently undoing the Aussie's pants and Cameron sitting on the couch, staring at them. House cleared his throat; "This would be a good time for someone to say something ingeniously funny." He stated. Chase groaned and slapped his forehead, rubbing his eyes in embarrassment as Cameron gave a nervous laugh.

House got up importantly and picked his pants up, looking totally unfazed as if this were the most normal situation he'd ever been in. Chase got up and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, looking at the TV, as if it was going to tell him what to say. Cameron placed the popcorn bowl on the table and made to stand up, though she finally remained seated, as if she couldn't decide what she was supposed to do. House grinned mischievously; "If you thought that was hot, wait 'till you see the rest!" He pinched Chase's side, making the blond squirm.

"House, you're not helping!" He told him angrily, before looking at Cameron shakily; "I'm sorry, I kind of forgot you were there and…" He stopped talking there, realizing how lame it sounded.

"What were you doing here anyway?" House asked Cameron before she could say anything in response to Chase. When no one answered, House snickered: "Aw, you had a pajama party without me?!" Chase groaned again, "Shut up House." Cameron sighed softly; "I should go home and get ready for work…" She said, getting up at last. Oh right, work was in less then two hours… Chase sighed interiorly; where had his night gone? He had barely slept five hours.

"Sure you don't want to join us?" House asked teasingly, and Cameron blushed slightly. Chase hit him on the arm. Cameron didn't reply, but said; "Bye Chase, thanks again and um… see you later…" rather happily as she left, though she looked disturbed.

Chase rounded on House as soon as the door closed; "What the hell, House!" He shouted. But his boss merely gave a feeble laugh. … Something was up. That's when he noticed the taste in his mouth – beer.

"You're drunk." He told him disappointedly.

"Am not!" House protested, "I was, but now I'm fine. See?" He took a vicodin, threw it in the air and caught it in his mouth. Chase sighed, before realizing; "Did you _drive _here?!"

"Of course not, I'm not that stupid – I asked Wilson – hang on, I _am_ stupid!" He exclaimed quite, well, stupidly. "Wilson took my car!"

"So what?" Chase asked. House shook his head; "Never mind… Okay, I'll admit I had a few beers with Wilson. We talked about you and he made me feel bad for leaving you at the hospital, so we went back, but you weren't there. We supposed you'd gotten home by your own means so we drove here."

"There are two things wrong with your story. One, why did you go back to the hospital? Obviously I wouldn't have stalled around until four in the morning just because you didn't take me home, and secondly, didn't you notice Cameron's car outside?" Chase said, suspicious. House growled faintly.

"Okay you win: I'm drunk. And I get stupid when I'm drunk." Chase nodded; "You can't be that drunk if you know you're drunk. But anyway, we should get ready for work. Maybe we'll get there on time today…" House groaned; "I don't wanna go to work." He said, sounding like a little boy who's arguing with his mother about not wanting to go to school.

"How about we take a shower, that'll wake you up." Chase suggested, making House grin.

----

After a hot shower (A/N: get it? Ha ha…), they got dressed. House looked through Chase's clothes.

"Your clothes are actually not that bad," he stated, "It's just the way you mix them together that's horrible." With that, he helped his wombat choose things that went together more than the things he usually wore, and they were off, after coffee.

They signed into PPTH together for the third time now, and went to the conference room. As House had thought, they were the first to arrive. So they made good use of their time, to put it in Chase's words, and looked at their current patient's condition together.

The other two ducklings arrived shortly, Cameron was still a little troubled, and the atmosphere in the room was edgy as they made their differential. Foreman was clueless of course, so he was the one to come up with the most ideas, being the only one safe from thoughts unrelated to medicine.

As they left the room to examine the patient, Chase was thinking this was going to be a long day. He was already feeling worn out and wanted nothing more than to sleep. But as soon as they were away from House, he and Cameron put any thoughts of this morning away and acted rather more friendlily than usual to each other. If Foreman noticed, he didn't care because he was as concentrated on his work as always.

----

They finally solved their patient, treating him for Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency, and Hepatitis C. Everything was going fine that day; they had just released their patient and they had all finished their (House's) clinic duty. That is until House limped into the room with a red file in his hand.

"Already a new patient?" Foreman exclaimed, clearly tired from the day too.

House went to the board and turned to face his duckies; "Yes. But before that, I have an announcement to make." Everyone was silent – House looked dead serious.

"I've been told," He said, "that I have to get rid of one of you by the end of the week."

Nobody moved or made a sound until House placed the file on the table.

Foreman and Cameron turned to look at each other, then at Chase.

The situation was clear; they thought Chase was safe because he was sleeping with House.

This was not looking good.


	7. Too Little Too Late, Part 1

Hey it's me again!! Yeah, this took more time then I thought it would, because I really had to think this over and I had to watch the episodes **Control **and **Babies & Bathwater **again… Also, I got sick this weekend. You know, the kind of sick that makes your eyes burn in the light, and you can't stop coughing and stuff. Yeah… not fun.

Anyway, now I'm feeling a lot better and up to writing the next chapter; optimistically it'll be done in the next few days or so. So here ends my tales of affliction, and here begins the new chapter! Enjoy… hopefully.

**Chapter Seven**

**Too Little Two Late (Part One)**

_And I could be good, and I would - If I knew I was understood  
And it'll be great, just wait - Or is it too little too late?  
One day, this embarrassment will fade behind me  
And that day I could think of things that won't remind me  
But these days it's unbearable for both of us  
We can't discuss it this way_

----

"What, you think I'm going to get fired?" Cameron scowled at Foreman, who shrugged; "It's not going to be me." He said knowingly, looking sideways at Chase.

"Hey, cut it out you two!" Chase exclaimed while Cameron and Foreman glared at each other. "Easy for you to say – you're not going to get fired!" Cameron told him. Chase sighed; "This is exactly what Voglar wants to see; us fighting and biting each others' head off…" The Australian reasoned, "We have to stick together." Foreman smirked, "You're still not the one getting fired."

"No, I think he's right Foreman. We shouldn't fight; it _would _be playing exactly into Voglar's expectations… I don't know about you, but I don't want to give him the satisfaction." Cameron said, posed. Foreman continued to look mad, but he stopped shouting. "Right. We still have to be careful though… House thinks someone ratted him out to Voglar about the Ipecac pills." He told them, straitening his tie nervously, "But I think it would be better that we stand strong together." They all nodded in agreement.

Chase felt a pang as he realized what Foreman was saying: Cuddy probably told Voglar he had helped House lie to the Transplant Committee, and now Voglar wanted Chase out of here. This was only a pretext. There wouldn't be a choice for House: it was Chase who had to go.

"We had better go take a look at the patient." Chase said to change the subject. House had gone to do some clinic hours as his punishment from Cuddy, who had realized he'd made his ducklings do all the ones he'd had to do last week.

----

"Why can't any of you doctors see past her weight?!" The patient's mother asked desperately. Cameron gulped and was at a loss of words. "If diet and exercise are the treatment; then the diagnosis is wrong." The woman concluded, and Cameron closed her eyes. "That might be. But the only way we'll know is if you let us do this test." The mother smirked, but nodded.

"Obesity isn't something you just grow out of." Chase stated as he and Foreman entered the conference room, having finished their tests on Jessica for the time being. "I take it you've never seen a baby?" Foreman retorted. Chase snorted; "She's not a baby, she's ten!" They saw Cameron working on her laptop when they entered. "So you figure making her feel like crap would do a world of good?!" Foreman asked snappily. "Yeah! If it gets her off the couch." There was a silence and Foreman sighed, turning his back on the Australian.

"You're contradicting yourself Chase, we have to stick together right?" Cameron said sadly, but before the blond could answer, Foreman spoke again; "Forget it Cameron, he's just cranky because he knows he's the one who's gonna get the axe." Cameron looked up at Chase, who simply glared – it seemed he'd figured it out too…

"What do you mean? I thought you kept saying I have nothing to worry about?" Chase asked defiantly.

"I know you're the one who told Voglar about the pills. Don't try and deny it – I can see right through your little game. You can try and make me believe you love House, but I just find it hard to believe the way that you –"

"What the hell do you know?" Chase shouted, insulted, "I love House. What more is there to say? I don't know how Voglar found out… The only thing I know is that we'll just look weak if we keep fighting –" He stopped talking, staring into space.

"What? Cat got your tongue? Suddenly realized what you're saying doesn't make any sense?" Foreman taunted. Chase shook his head slowly, then opened his eyes wide. If this had been a cartoon, there would be a light bulb over his head. "I've got it!" He cried out, "Listen… we can beat Voglar… If we just stop fighting over this! He's expecting us to rip each other's head off and everything. But if we just continue to get along, nothing bad'll happen. Trust me, we'll get out of this… I just know House will find a way."

"How do you expect us to get along with you right now? You say House is not going to fire anyone… Easy for you to say." Foreman retorted. Cameron exhaled noisily. "Chase is right, again, I think we should get along… even if it's just to prove Voglar wrong. Don't you have enough ego for that?" She asked Foreman, who seemed to suffer interiorly before finally sighing; "Okay then… whatever."

Their pagers all went off and they ran to see what was wrong with their patient.

----

"She's sedated," Foreman told Jessica's mother as they watched the girl through the glass. The mother looked at the three doctors in anger; "You were supposed to be monitoring her condition, instead you were bickering and placing bets!" Indeed, Foreman and Chase had rather lost their patience at each other while the exam, the former still skeptic of the blond's plan.

"Okay, I apologize if it looked like we weren't attentive to your daughter, but I assure you that we were." Chase told her in an attempt to justify himself, even if it was Foreman's fault. "Oh _please_, save your pathetic insincerity for your _boyfriend_." The mother told him smugly.

"That would be me." House said as he walked into the scene. Chase felt his face redden. "And you are?" The mom asked. House smiled; "I'm from the lab. What happened to you daughter wasn't caused by anything these doctors may or may not have done." He reassured her, glancing at his ducklings.

"Then what was it caused by?" She asked nervously, to which House told her, shrugging; "I have no idea. However, you'll be happy to hear it cannot be cured by diet or exercise." The mother stared, and the doctors followed their mentor as he limped away.

"I hardly need to remind you that this would be an extremely good time for one of you to distinguish yourselves with a brilliant idea." House told them, writing _temporary psychosis _as the new symptom on the whiteboard as soon as they got to the conference room. Nobody spoke, all in silent agreement that they wouldn't fight about this. House raised an eyebrow; "Nothing? Okay, all credit goes to me." Still, everyone stayed silent. "C'mon, just think! There's a whole universe of ridiculous obesity treatments that could cause this somehow! Anything – I don't care just give me something!"

House was obviously mad at their silence. Chase faintly thought of liposuction but he knew it would be turned down. "Diet pills?" Foreman suggested. House nodded. "Okay… anyone else?" Still no response. "You _both _agree with Foreman?" He asked them incredulously. Usually, someone would at least have given a comment or something of the sort. The only thing he got was a silent nod from them.

"Excellent then. You two go prevent further blood clots," he said to Foreman and Cameron, then turned to chase; "And you: you're good at finding pills – go find hers." Chase stopped in his tracks. His colleagues stared at him, Foreman with a face that just screamed 'I told you so'. Cameron looked disappointed. They both left hastily, leaving Chase alone with their boss, who popped a vicodin, breathing in relief. "Not diet pills." He affirmed, looking at the blond, "You may want to broaden the search a bit…"

"Stop fucking with us." Chase said, not bothering to hide his frustration.

"I believe you are the only one I'm fucking. Foreman's too unyielding and Cameron… she'd get attached to me, want to have kids –"

"JUST FIRE SOMEONE ALREADY!" Chase screamed, "I can't take this anymore! Seriously! Stop treating us like lab rats, trying to see when we'll crack and jump at each others' throats…" House looked at him sternly.

"You think this is fun for me? I don't want to fire anybody." Chase dropped onto a chair; "Then… try to find an arrangement… something?" House shook his head; "I don't have a choice."

"Then fire someone."

"Who would you fire?" House asked. Chase stared at him, gaping. He was about to say Foreman, still pissed at him, but decided to be honest. "I would fire me." He said quietly. House stared back. Clearly, whatever the older man had expected, it hadn't been that. "Why?" House asked, sounding sad. …Odd.

"Because… because, oh House I'm so sorry!" He cried out, trying to hold back the tears he knew were coming. This was over, House was going to find out and he would hate him for what he'd done. Sudden realization came over House's face. "What did you do?" He asked harshly.

"I had found the Ipecac and I was going to go put it in my locker. It… it was Cuddy. She intercepted me, and I must have looked guilty because she kept bugging me until she got the bottle. I didn't give it to her! It fell as I was trying to hide it and… well, she figured it out."

"Why didn't you tell me about this? We could have arranged something or…"

"She promised not to tell!" Chase retorted. House looked like he'd been slapped. "Why would Cuddy tell Voglar?" He questioned, frowning and looking just plain pissed off. Chase shrugged. He didn't know what was going to happen, but it couldn't be good. "I'll try to arrange something with Voglar." He heard his boss say. He looked up, but House spoke before he could; "Don't get too exited though – I said I'll _try_…"

"I'm… really sorry." Chase told him again, getting up and finally looking him in the eyes. "Don't be," House said, "its Cuddy who'll be sorry when I get hold of her." Chase smiled weakly; knowing House couldn't do anything to Cuddy, but he was grateful the House wasn't really mad at him and that he would try discussing the situation. Personally, Chase thought Voglar didn't look like the guy you'd want to cross.

----

"Did you make a decision?" Cuddy inquired, looking up from her stack of documents as House walked in. "17% across the board. If we cut all out salaries, we can stay for the same amount of money." House proposed. Voglar got up and went to the window; "No." He said plainly.

"If he can work it, and we don't lose money, what's the difference?" Cuddy protested.

"It's not about the money," Voglar stated, "It never was. I need to know that whatever I ask you to do, however distasteful you may find it, you'll do it. And – just as importantly – you need to know that." House glared, Voglar looked at him with superiority and Cuddy sighed when the cripple walked out without a word.

Chase was waiting outside; "How did it go?" House grunted. "He said no." The Aussie bowed his head and followed his boss into an elevator. They were silent for a second, then; "Who are you going to fire?" Chase asked slowly. House didn't answer, so he followed him out of the elevator and into a test lab. His two other colleagues were there doing tests on their patient's newest symptom: Warfirin Induced Skin Necrosis.

House went on ignoring Chase's inquiries as soon as they left Cameron and Foreman to work. He seemed to be trying to avoid looking at the younger doctor too as he strode away as fast as it was possible for him with his cane.

Suddenly, House stopped and turned to look at him sternly.

"Okay will you stop being such a fuss! I assure you that if I knew who I was going to fire, I would tell you. But I do not. Now, I think we would both be better off working on the ten-year old that is currently in danger of dying, leaving less pressing matters aside don't you?" House told him, voice full of impatience.

Chase bit his lip, feeling that he was being a bit selfish, after all, his job as a doctor required him to put his patient first on his priorities list. Much more so than if his obnoxious boss was mad at him or not. He bowed his head, muttering some sort of apology and went back down to the lab.

House sighed and went to his office, feeling he had had enough human contact today. He needed to think.

Which is where he was disappointed. Cameron entered his office the moment he sat down, disturbing the blissful silence he'd barely had the chance to enjoy two seconds earlier. He hissed and took a vicodin.

"What _now_?" He asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

"You. You're going to fire someone, and you're going to do it soon." Cameron told him, placing her hands on her hips as she walked her way up to his desk. House smirked; "Okay, you're fired. Now we all feel so much better! Good thing Voglar came along, phew! I was waiting for this opportunity since God-knows-when –"

"Maybe I should quit!" Cameron went on, ignoring his rambles, "And make it easier for everyone." House stopped immediately; "I don't want you to quit." He said, before he could even stop to reason about this.

"Why not? You're not going to fire Foreman, _he's too good._ You're not going to fire Chase, _he's_ _your pet!_ I know I'm the only one you could ever _consider_ firing, so be it! I quit." She told him, sounding close to something like crying. Wow, Cameron crying, that would be the end of it.

"I don't want to fire anyone okay. But… don't quit. I need you here." House told her, standing up to face her. She looked up at him, narrowing her eyes; "Why? Give me a good reason." He shrugged, "You're a good doctor. What else?" She sighed.

"Not good enough. But I already know you hate me, so I guess that's the most I'll get." Cameron reasoned as she looked away, shoving her hands in her pockets. House emitted a low growl.

'_Why does everyone have to force me into this? They know I hate saying stuff like this… Ah, well if it can get her to stay…' _ House thought as he bit his lip and fiddled with his cane. He grabbed Cameron's shoulders as she made to walk away; "I need you to stay. Please, because you're not only a good doctor, you're the only person who makes this team work. Without you, we'd always be fighting. You're the gooey heart-shaped thing – or whatever you want to call it – that keeps this team from falling apart."

He knew what he'd just said sounded really tacky, but it seemed to work. Girls just love this kind of stuff, right?

Cameron smiled weakly; "I'd rather you not compare me to a gummy piece of candy, but I'll take the hint anyway; I'll stay." She told him, suddenly serious again. House nodded and turned to sit. Before he could however, Cameron pulled him into a short-lived hug that only proved to make things more awkward.

She walked out of his office strait after, obviously noticing she'd probably gone too far with this. House sighed; maybe now he'd get to be alone?

----

Their patient was solved. A brilliant idea from Chase – of the girl's obesity being not the cause, but a symptom – led them to diagnose Jessica with Cushing's Syndrome.

House was altogether content about his day as he walked around trying to find Chase. The Australian wasn't in any of the exam rooms or in the conference room, whereas Cameron and Foreman had already left. Unless the three doctors were all hiding from him somewhere as some kind of bad joke.

House was thinking he might like for Chase to jump out and yell 'boo', opposed to not finding the Aussie anywhere, as he resigned to go look in his office; maybe the blond was waiting for him there. Chase couldn't have left could he? Maybe it was some sort of payback for House leaving him at the hospital that other time…

House was reasonably disappointed when he found not Chase sitting on his chair, but Cuddy, joined with Voglar who was sitting on his desk. House was about to remark that his desk wasn't meant to hold more than a thousand lbs, but thought better of it. Instead he winced and looked at Cuddy; "Why Cuddy! How charming of you to stop by –"

"It's been a week. Who is it?" Cuddy told him impatiently. House grumbled interiorly. "Has it been a week already? My, does time fly by when we have fun!" The cripple exclaimed, attempting to smile. Voglar didn't look amused.

"Actually, it's been over a week. So, who did you choose?" House recoiled; he wasn't ready yet!

"Foreman." He said decidedly. Voglar started playing with an elastic band as he replied lazily; "No… Foreman stays. Choose someone else." He told the doctor, grinning slightly. House frowned; "The deal was –"

"Deals change!" Voglar told him, turning around to sit more comfortably on the edge of the desk. "Choose someone else." He repeated, sounding dangerously impatient. House glared and looked at Cuddy, silently imploring her to do something. She shook her head uselessly, looking confused. So House did the only thing that made sense to him; he turned away and strode out of his office.

That's when he spotted Chase. The blond was walking to an elevator with his coat on, messenger bag hanging to his side. House fumed silently and marched up to his employee.

"Hey!" Chase turned, grimacing as he recognized the voice. His eyes widened as he was slammed backwards onto the wall. He groaned, as he was met with House's furious face.

"I know what you've done; you bastard… you back-stabbing jerk…" House growled at him while holding him firmly against the wall. Chase put on an incredulous face; "What are you talk –"

"Cut the crap! I know you were the one who went to Voglar, okay? You tried to feed me that ridiculous story about Cuddy finding out about the Ipecac to make me feel sorry for you. You thought I'd protect you. Well, I fell right into that…" House closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths, "I decided to fire Foreman." He told the blond, who frowned and gulped: this was definitely not good! House was supposed to stand up to Voglar! Not choose to fire someone...

"Okay, so… what's wrong with that? What happened?"

"Don't act like you don't know! Voglar said to choose someone else." Chase continued to frown, and House scowled; "Right, keep on playing the nice guy… I am not going to fire Cameron, or you for that matter. I only want to know the truth." House said, staring strait into Chase's eyes.

"Did you tell Voglar?" He asked. Chase shook his head and closed his eyes. "Look at me!" House added, "Did you?"

"No! House, I'd never… I…" But before he could finish, House was already gone, limping into an elevator. Chase sighed, shaking his head in frustration. The plan wasn't working out as he'd thought it would… But, he decided to let things go as they would; House would surely have to confront Voglar again tomorrow and everything would be clear. Because things were always solved in the end, weren't they?

He was snapped back to reality when he realized that House was gone.

He jumped, and decided on the stairs; if he was lucky, he could get downstairs before House. Indeed, no sooner had he jumped down the last few steps did he hear the characteristic _ding _of the elevator. He ran to it and nearly bumped into the older man, who looked annoyed.

"What now?! Haven't you ruined my day enough already?" He asked the blond, who took a moment to catch his breath before saying; "You don't have a lift remember?" House, as it seemed, had forgotten up until now judging by the look on his face, but it was quickly replaced by an unappreciative expression. He stepped around Chase and started to make his way to the front doors. The Australian followed, and without a word, House got into the car with him.

Chase knew how mad the older man was, and knowing House, it was most likely a hard blow to his ego to let Chase give him a ride. But he couldn't help but smile as they drove silently to House's apartment. Arrogance… It was a trait he had grown to like in House. However strange it sounded, it made him kind of… cute? He didn't know if House would like it if he knew what Chase had just thought so he kept silent, just glad to have time with him however short it was.

All too soon they were parked in front of House's place. As expected, the older doctor stepped out of the car without a second glance to his employee. Chase couldn't help but feel disappointed a little as he watched him walk away in the darkness.

Although he knew it would all have been worthwhile tomorrow.

Yeah, tomorrow, everything would work out.


	8. Too Little Too Late, Part 2

Hi, how are you all doing? This chapter was longer to write, as will all the others from now on. I'll probably only be updating ever three to four days.

Anyway, I still don't own House, M.D.!!!

Enjoy.

**Chapter Eight**

**Too Little Too Late (Part 2)**

_Record and play, after years of endless rewind  
Yesterday wasn't half as tough as this time  
This time isn't Hell,  
Last time, I couldn't tell  
This mind wasn't well  
Next time, hope I'm...  
Going to be good, and I would -  
If I knew I was understood  
And it'll be great, just wait -  
Or is it too little too late?_

----

"Hey!" Called a voice, snapping House out from his dream. He'd been dreaming about Voglar, which wasn't really surprising, considering that the big guy had been running through his mind since last night. He was at a complete loss of what to do. So here he was, hiding. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, hissing at the light.

"Sorry… stayed up late. Internet porn, you know…" Forman snorted; "Hiding because Voglar's looking for you. That's pathetic." House frowned. "Pathetic? I just don't like loud angry giants threatening me with violence. How is that pathetic?" He asked, barely hiding his irritation. Chase remained silent, suddenly unusually fascinated by his feet.

House was barely listening to Foreman telling him about their newest patient. House gave them quick instructions for tests, still watching Chase fixedly. The two doctors nodded, Foreman looking at him strangely, but left to do their tests anyway. House sighed; there was nothing to do now he supposed.

That's why when he entered his office, he checked every corner of the room from outside before opening the door. He walked slowly, listening closely as if he would hear a time bomb or something. He wouldn't be surprised if he did. He got to his desk at last and shifted a few papers around, then he turned and gasped; met with Voglar's stony face. The man was standing still as a statue, staring at him with an evil gleam in his eye. House had no idea how he'd gotten there without him noticing, but he didn't much care.

"Whoa-!" He yelled, bounding backwards. Voglar cleared his throat.

"You," He said slowly, "Are going to make a choice." House smirked; "I suppose I'll have made a decision by… say, tomorrow morning? Yeah, that should be enough time –"

"Now. I want a decision right now; otherwise, I expect your letter of resignation on my desk in the hours to come. Now, or I will destroy you." House gulped and thought around furiously. He couldn't choose Foreman, and he'd promised Cameron he wouldn't choose her. That left Chase, and he'd practically _begged_ for him to fire him.

"Chase." He said clearly, holding his breath. Voglar narrowed his eyes, turned around swiftly and left without another word.

That was it? That was it?!

House felt like his jaw would drop. So, Chase was fired… Seconds ago, he'd felt like he didn't care; hell, Chase didn't seem to care if he got fired! But now, he was feeling curiously dreadful. What if… what if Chase would hate him for this?

And why, _why_ did it suddenly matter so much to him what Chase thought about him?

The thought was depressing. This sucked. He rubbed his forehead, and sat at his desk with a slight headache. Popping a vicodin, he threw away the files that were lying on his desk and waited for his ducklings to return.

----

"She might make it to full term. Her contractions are less frequent." Chase explained, pacing around the table while Foreman sat reading the file and House made coffee.

"Nice to see you in the office again," Foreman remarked, "I guess Voglar found you?"

"Yeah! We had a nice little chat. Now, what else?" House stated, making it clear he didn't want to talk about it.

"She choked… Muscle weakness, right?" Cameron told him anxiously.

House frowned and turned, forgetting about the coffee he had been making; "What did the patient choke on?" He questioned, making Foreman scowl. Chase and Cameron looked rather agitated too.

"Her food! Who cares?" Foreman snapped, clearly annoyed at House's lack of interest in the case. House took a step forewards, repeating his question; "What did she choke on? What kind of food?" Foreman frowned even more, if that was even possible; "A piece of pear! We should just concentrate on –"

"She choked on a piece of soft white pear? That's way above swallowing issues –" He stopped talking, looking at Wilson, who had just entered the room in a hurry saying; "We have to talk."

"Ooh… We have to talk!" House repeated childishly, following the oncologist outside. Before, he turned to his team; "Check the patient's eyelids." He heard Foreman titter and say "Her eyelids?!" as he walked out.

"Board meeting tonight…" Wilson began as they walked through the hallway, "Only one thing on the menu: you."

"I know! I'm irresistible!" House grinned, making Wilson groan; "House! Don't be a fool! Voglar is looking for any reason to fire you – he's going to jump on anything you do wrong. I just wanted to warn you." House laughed softly.

"There's no need for that, Voglar isn't going to fire me now, not now that I've made a decision." House told him, grinning again, this time at Wilson's incredulous face. "You what? I mean… okay… who?"

"Chase." House told him with a voice that plainly said 'I don't care'. Wilson stared. "Chase? But… why would you fire Chase?"

"Couldn't fire Foreman – not that I didn't try – and I didn't want to fire Cameron." He answered simply. Wilson shook his head. "That doesn't make sense! I thought you cared more about Chase than… Cameron…" House stopped and Wilson went on a few steps alone before stopping too and backing up.

"I do. I… care about Chase so… I had to fire him." House said, staring into space and walking off, leaving Wilson alone to wonder what the hell he was talking about.

Wilson quickly came to the conclusion that he wouldn't get any answers out of House. So he turned and went to Cuddy's office.

Thankfully, Voglar wasn't there. Only Cuddy, who lifted up her head to see who it was before returning to her paperwork, waiting for him to speak. She noticed how the oncologist was pacing slowly while rubbing his neck, which usually wasn't a good sign. He finally spoke up; "House… fired Chase." Cuddy stopped writing, but continued to stare at her notebook. "Not yet. We'd have heard about it sooner than this." She told him. He sighed and went on, "Yes, which is why I think he probably hasn't told Chase yet. I'm guessing the results won't be pretty."

Cuddy finally looked at him, putting her pen down. "What do you want me to do? Yeah it's sad… Chase doesn't deserve this, but I can't prevent anything from happening now. Voglar told him to fire someone, and he did. I don't have a say in this." Wilson nodded comprehensively, having been expecting Cuddy to say that.

"Right. My next inquiry is why Voglar has scheduled a meeting about House tonight if House has done what he told him to. He doesn't have any reason to fire him now does he?" Cuddy shook her head briefly; "He doesn't really… We'll just have to hope House can keep his head down for a while. At least until we can persuade Voglar that we need him here."

"Well, there's little chance of that." Wilson stated, "But yeah, we don't have a choice. Thanks for your time." He gave her a short nod and walked out.

Halfway down the corridor, he collided into Chase, who was walking with his head bowed; obviously he was coming to see Cuddy. Chase didn't look up, he only murmured some incomprehensible apology and walked around him, keeping his head down. Perplexed, Wilson put a hand on the Australian's shoulder; "Chase… what's wrong?" The blond shook his head, but it gave time for Wilson to see that his eyes were red and watery. "What happened?" He asked him again. Chase started to stammer.

"House – he – he fired me – and he – he – he told me that –" Before he could say anymore, he burst into silent tears. He looked profoundly distressed, but also humiliated at crying. Wilson rubbed his back softly; "What did he say? I know he can be a jerk…" Chase wiped his eyes on his sleeve and took several deep breaths.

"He told me… to get lost. He said – he told me that he never wants to see me again." Chase managed to say through the silent sobs that were making his body shake. Wilson tried to make a comforting face while he controlled the rage that was coming through. How could House do this to Chase? Sure, he had no other choice but to fire him after he told Voglar he'd do it, but there was a difference with firing someone and pointing a flame-thrower at them, no pun intended.

He shook his head and told Chase; "Don't worry about it. House doesn't know how to deal with feelings. Trust me: he likes you, and he will, it'll just take some time for him to –"

"No! He told me! He said that he didn't like me, that he never had!"

"What do you mean?" Wilson asked, with the unpleasant feeling that he knew exactly what House had said. Chase made an angry face; "He said you had been right all along, that he was just teasing me and stuff, taking advantage of me because I was sad about my dad and… and that he just wanted me as far away from him as possible." With that, Chase trembled with quiet sobs again and couldn't talk anymore. Wilson took the form Chase was holding, seeing that it was a resignation paper and did something he would never had done in other circumstances; hugging Chase.

The Australian seemed surprised at the action, but was visibly thankful to be given a shoulder to cry on. Wilson hushed; "Go home, take a nice shower, and go to sleep. I promise I'll work things out. Don't worry." He felt Chase nod.

One last pat on the back and Chase left. Wilson heaved a sigh sadly, and glared at the doctors who had cluttered around the scene, motioning for them to continue on their way.

Once again, he entered Cuddy's office. She looked up and this time gave him her full attention strait away. Before she had the chance to ask what was going on, Wilson explained; "House fired Chase. Just now. And… he also told him he didn't want to see him anymore. From what I understood from Chase's tears, he was rather mean to him."

Cuddy's mouth hung open slightly, her shoulders drooping. "What did you say to him?"

"To Chase? I sent him home and told him to relax… I said I would sort things out." Cuddy scratched the side of her head; "You're aware, I'm sure, that there's nothing we can do." Wilson looked perturbed; "We can tell House to apologize! We can… something!"

"You can try and tell House to apologize, but you won't get him to. Weren't you there when he woke up from his coma? Chase is no different from Stacy, he won't get a second chance. There never are any with House." Cuddy told him quickly, "Chase had to understand that. I'm sorry it had to happen like this but… it did, and… that's life with House. He doesn't forgive – he doesn't forget."

Wilson gawked at her, but he understood. This was really over. He thanked her one last time and went back down to oncology where his patients were waiting for him. There was nothing else left to do now. Except work.

----

Cameron was talking. House barely registered the sound of her voice as he just sat there, looking through the artists on his iPod. Several minutes and many 'House!!''s later, he finally looked up at her.

"What?!" He snapped angrily, "Yeah, great! Go do whatever test you have to do, I just don't care! You're a full-grown doctor right? You don't need me to treat a patient, go do what you have to do!"

She glared at him, and Foreman looked slightly alarmed. "This isn't funny House! Our patient has cancer! We have to make a decision! And –"

"And you have to stop yelling. Do that C-section." He commanded, turning back to his iPod. Yeah, iPod's much more interesting. Cameron scowled; "The patient doesn't want to… We have to convince her. And where's Chase? You'd think _he'd_ be concerned about the patient at least!"

"Chase is fired." House told her; "And didn't you just hear me: do a C-section, do whatever you have to to make her understand." The two doctors stared.

"There is no way in hell you fired Chase!" Cameron shouted, sounding livid, "How could you?" House winced at the loudness of her voice.

"I couldn't fire you, and Voglar said no about sacking Foreman. What other choice did I have?" Foreman scowled; "You wanted to fire me?!"

"Who cares? Chase is fired, but you're both still here! Now do that damn C-section!!" House raged, standing up abruptly, throwing his arms in the air. Cameron's eyes widened and she backed away in alarm.

She glared; "Okay look… The patient doesn't want to have a C-section, or treatment for cancer. She thinks her odds aren't good enough." House tittered; "Go get Wilson; he's the oncologist around here." She and Foreman exchanged annoyed glances and walked off.

House groaned as he slumped back down on his chair; standing up that fast hadn't done any good for his leg or his headache. As if it wasn't bad enough, his stomach growled. Damn it, he'd grown used to eating waffles in the morning, but Chase hadn't been there this morning. He probably wouldn't be there ever again. House knew he shouldn't have shouted like that but he couldn't help it.

He knew Chase had gone to Voglar, no matter how much he'd tried to deny it and plead for forgiveness, House would never forgive him. Because he just _knew_ it was him.

He was tempted to take another vicodin, but he his bottle was almost empty – he barely had enough to last him until tomorrow afternoon – and he didn't think Wilson would be very happy if he came asking for a refill so soon. Besides, he wasn't keen on talking to Wilson at all right now, or anyone else for that matter, because he knew he'd just get nagged at for firing Chase. He hoped Chase had gone home; he wanted least of all to run into him today.

House frowned slightly as he played with his tennis ball. He'd expected Chase to shout back at him, or complain to Cuddy, or at least have some reaction of some sort! But the Australian had simply lain back and let him walk all over him. It just wasn't right. He knew Chase had more backbone than that; maybe he really just didn't care what House did?

His trail of thoughts was interrupted by Wilson, who promptly barged in making the door rattle. Seemed he'd done something about their patient. He unplugged his earphones, mentally prepared for a good commotion.

"Someone didn't get his coffee this morning." House snickered at his friend who reddened in the face, scowling; "Someone," He replied angrily, "needs to read a book on human interaction." At House's bland look, he rearticulated; "You made him cry House!"

"I made Voglar cry? Wow, that deserves something don't you think? A trophy at least –"

"Not Voglar! God, you're annoying!" Wilson rubbed his forehead and walked around the room before leaning on House's desk with both hands. "I sent Chase home, and I had to reassure him that everything would be okay because he was really down. You made him _cry_, House!" he repeated in conclusion.

"So what," House replied indifferently, "He can go home and cry in his shower alone for all I care: I did what I had to do, it's his own fault if he can't deal with it."

Wilson closed his eyes and breathed, clenching his fists; "He told me everything House. How the hell you fired him and thought the time would be right to break up with him too is complete mystery to me. You can't do that to someone!"

House had an expression appropriate to having been punched in the face. He growled; "I can't be with Chase! I just… it'll never work out! He'll like me for a while, and then one day he'll realize who I am really – just a miserable old cripple. I don't want to wait until that happens; I should never have gotten myself in this mess."

"Don't you think he already knows you're a miserable old cripple? He does, but he likes you anyway: what does that tell you?" House stared at him and said calmly, without even blinking; "That he doesn't love me."

"You just think you don't deserve him! Admit it, you –" Wilson retorted but was cut short by the sound of House's pager. House glanced at it and got up, hissing at the pain; "Gotta go, patient's going into surgery, I have to go look over my duckies."

And Wilson was left standing there, rather perturbed.

----

Voglar sat at the head of the table, fingers interlocked and looking dominantly around the table at the other members of the board. "A man is the sum of his actions," He stated, "Here are some of Gregory House's… He violated a DNR; and was charged with assault," he paused, looking at them dangerously, "He brought a termite into an OR, and _spat_ on a surgeon. He accepted a Corvette from a patient who was a known member of the New Jersey mafia." One of the surgeons sighed.

"Edward, look… Look at anyone's career, you can find things that are –"

"These are the last three months." Voglar interrupted, "He has personally had more complaints filed against him than any _department_ in this hospital." Wilson fought the urge to growl; "Okay… he's screwed up. He's miserable. And he should probably re-read the ethics code. But it works for him; he's saved hundreds of lives."

"He is a drug-addict who flaunts his addiction and refuses to get treatment. He is a disgrace and an embarrassment to this hospital." Voglar shot back stubbornly. "I'd go on, but it gets kinda mean, so… So, all in favor for the immediate dismissal and termination of Dr Gregory House's employment at this hospital?"

A silence followed. Someone let out a nervous cough and slowly, slowly everyone's hands went up one by one, leaving only Cuddy and Wilson. Wilson kept his arm firmly pressed on the tabletop and stared in horror as Cuddy gulped, closed her eyes and lifted hers into the air swiftly. She was looking at Voglar with determination, obviously avoiding the oncologist's gaze.

"Dr Wilson?" Voglar sounded disappointed, but impatient too. "I vote no." Wilson replied decisively. "Then the situation is discharged." Voglar announced, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room."

Wilson frowned.

"Well, first of all, you can't avoid my vote by making me stand in the hallway, and second, you have to wait at least one business day before calling another vote." He told the bigger man, as if he didn't know.

"I know, but this vote is one you are conflicted out of."

"Conflicted? How can I be conflicted?" Wilson posed, worried and confused.

"This vote is for the immediate dismissal of Dr James Wilson."

Wilson's gasp never left him, caught in his throat, and he stood up slowly to leave the room, feeling his stomach sink.

----

The following morning, Wilson was packing his stuff when House came barging in, rattling his empty vicodin bottle under his nose and ranting about Voglar dismissing his patient form surgery the day before. He stopped after several seconds of Wilson's lack of response, eyeing the numerous cardboard boxers scattered all over the office; "What are you doing?" He asked, not without suspicion, but still concerned. Wilson continued to throw things in his boxes, glaring.

"I got sacked."

The phrase hit House like a sledgehammer, but instead of being the comforting friend he should have been, he smirked.

"What, d'ya make a pass at Cuddy? I told you: she only has thighs for me!" Wilson shot him a look of disgust.

"I was the only one to not vote for your dismissal. Yes – even your _beloved _Cuddy didn't protect you. Don't get too exited though, there'll be another vote tonight, and you won't be as lucky." House bowed his head, as Wilson went on irritably; "But anyway, it doesn't matter; I have no kids, my marriage sucks… All that matters to me is my job and this stupid screwed up friendship – yet even you neglect my friendship. I just lost my job… what's left now eh?" He slammed a book into a box, exhaling heavily as he looked at House. He didn't even have the energy to glare any more. "Well… you'll be gone soon, too…" Wilson went on sadly when House failed to say anything.

"I… guess so." He hopelessly said at last, "Nothing's going to make Cuddy say no this time. But… why did you sacrifice your job for me? You only put off the inevitable until later…" Wilson scratched his temple; "I don't know okay. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't lift up my hand and show Voglar I was afraid too."

House nodded absent-mindedly, staring at the boxes laid out over the desk. "Will you ate least check this out?" He asked as he handed his friend a file. Wilson dropped his arms to the side, then took the file and sighed; "I'll make some calls." House nodded in appreciation, waved his hand vaguely as a parting gesture and left his friend to pack.

He went strait to the conference room, where his remaining ducklings were awaiting him impatiently. He was met with their angered voices as he limped in. As if his leg pain wasn't enough – no, they had to impair his hearing, too.

"You're late, again!" Cameron squealed as she pressed a file unto him. He smirked; "I was not late, you bickering idiots, I was with Wilson. He just got sacked." With that he threw the file back onto the table and went to make himself a cup of coffee. At least someone had actually bothered to make some before his arrival today… _Yeah, that's the stuff,_ he thought as he swallowed the liquid and felt the warmth of it flow through his body, relaxing him.

"What's wrong with cancer-lady?" He shot back at Cameron, who was still standing near the table, looking exasperated. Both she and Foreman were silenced by the news of Wilson being fired. She scowled even more at him – was that even possible? – as she snapped; "It's not funny! She's going to die if we don't have a decision soon. Voglar terminated the C-section yesterday, as you know…" She trailed off; hardly needing to remind anyone about the shouting session that had ensued in the lobby yesterday when House had found out Voglar stopped the surgery.

"I'll go talk to her –" House started, but was interrupted by the abundant sounds of three pagers going off. In sync, the three doctors reached into their pockets and stared at each other in horror. They gathered their things and left hurriedly.

House followed them as fast as he could, but they were too fast.

They met the patient's husband in the corridor leading to the OR's. He wasn't allowed to go in obviously. Foreman hung back to talk to him while Cameron went on past the doors. The man was looking frantic; "What's going on?"

"We have to make an intervention – she has some sort of a blood clot. Fairly common with this type of cancer. We can get Naomi to breathe again by removing the clot but we need you to okay the surgery." He told him.

The guy nodded frantically waving his arms around; "Yes, anything. Of course. Anything you have to do, just do it –" Foreman sighed; "It's not that simple. The best course for the baby would be an immediate C-section. The longer we postpone, the greater chance he'll have brain damage from lack of oxygen."

"Fine, whatever just do it!"

"Here's the problem" Foreman sighed again, trying to get him to understand the situation; "A C-section would be very, very dangerous for Naomi. In her current condition, there's a real chance she won't survive." The man looked at him with wide eyes, looking devastated. "I'm sorry." Foreman added. He knew these kinds of situations were hard to deal with, but the silence went on longer than it should have.

"Look, your wife is unconscious; we need you to make a decision." Foreman pressed on, making the other breathe faster and gulp; "I just… want her… to live. No C-section." The husband said at last, looking in pain. Foreman nodded and ran off the the OR.

----

They had just finished sucking out the clot, when House came in. Right on cue, too: the patient's situation was getting stabilized.

Suddenly, the monitors started to beep. House went around the table and lifted the robes; a large dark spot had appeared through the skin of her belly. "She's bleeding into her abdomen. I'll go see the husband… keep her stable for a long as you can."

He went to break the news, pressing; "She had trauma while the surgery. She's bleeding into herself, there's nothing we can do. I'm sorry." He saw the fear and deception grow on the man's face slowly.

"I need you to okay the C-section." House told him, trying not to sound impatient. This was not the time to be mean. "But, that's going to kill her right?" The man asked sadly, and House was pained to reply; "Probably will."

The other started to mutter incomprehensible things under his breath and dropped the cup of water he had been holding. House grasped him by the forearms in a comforting gesture and that's when he noticed Cuddy watching the scene from a few feet away. He tried to concentrate on the man.

"Stay with me Shaun… I need your okay on this." Shaun began to tremble as tears streamed down his cheeks. "I… I can't… I…" He stammered continuously. "I know this is going to be tough from now on, but this decision is easy – You know what she'd want." He spoke over the other man's whines of 'I can't… I can't do it…' and tried to be reassuring. "You make this call, only two things change. Yes; you feel guilty for killing your wife, but you baby lives. Naomi's baby lives."

Shaun stared at him, tears lessening, but still scared. "Okay… okay." House patted his back and went back into the OR, faintly hearing the sobs of the new – hopefully – father increase.

----

House rubbed his eyes, leaving the OR slowly. He wasn't really looking where he was going when he bumped into Cuddy. She was staring at him sadly. "I saw you… with the husband, before the surgery. What happened?" She asked, close to tears. House frowned.

"The woman died… we saved her son." Cuddy nodded.

"I saw you reassuring the father."

"What's your point?"

"You… I've never seen you do that." She told him suddenly. His eyes widened. "I do it all time – it's just who I am." He said with a fake happy voice.

"You fired Chase." She changed subject abruptly.

"I did."

"You mad him cry. Didn't you reassure _him_?" House blankly returned her stare. At a loss of words, he chose not to speak. She chuckled, but it didn't sound cheerful. "He… he loves you, House!"

"I don't."

"That's not a reason. You should go see him and apologize at least." She snapped at him. He shook his head as he walked away; "What's the point? I'm not going to be here tomorrow anyway. The hospital was the only bond I ever had with him – now it's gone."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm assuming I won't be here anymore by tomorrow." With that, he turned the corner and was gone. Cuddy stood there for a few seconds, then remembered the meeting and strode off.

----

"Same motion as yesterday people, same reasons." Voglar seethed, sitting down. "All those in favor of dismissing Gregory House raise a hand."

Cuddy sat very still, finding it hard to breathe all of a sudden. She knew what she was about to do was very bad for business, but she just couldn't do it to House, she wouldn't sit there and watch as Voglar destroyed everything she'd worked so hard for. That is, equality.

Hands went up, faster than they had yesterday, but Cuddy kept her hand to her lips, fidgeting nervously. "Dr Cuddy…" Voglar started dejectedly, "You realize, this is going to happen." She put her arm down at stared back at him. Now or never.

"I can't do it." Voglar bit his lip, bearing a slight frown; "You can't abstain."

"I'm not abstaining: I am voting no." She affirmed. Everyone turned to look at her, shocked.

"You changed your mind since yesterday?" Voglar asked, starting to sound angry, "What did he buy you dinner and roses? Threaten to drown your dog?"

"He did his job." She threw at him, but before he could say anything, she went on; "And I haven't changed my mind: I've made up my mind." Voglar made a confused face. "House did his job." She repeated, "He is valuable to this hospital, and I support him unconditionally. I've finally decided to speak up. We all have a say in this. If you all think that House deserves to go – that Wilson deserved to go, that I deserve to go – then go ahead and vote yes. But I'm making a choice. If you're voting yes because you're afraid of losing his money, then he's got what he wanted – he _owns_ you." She stood up.

"You have a choice too, probably the last one you'll have here." And she walked out, leaving everyone with perplexed expressions.

----

"Cuddy: the man of the hour!" House exclaimed as said woman entered the room.

"Hey… what are you doing?" She inquired as she came in his office, smiling. "We're drinking; I'd have thought that was pretty obvious." He stated and she chuckled; "Well, hears to you, the great champion – saved us all from Voglar." She looked around at House, Wilson, Cameron and Foreman and downed the glass of wine House had handed her in no more than eight quick gulps. Everyone stared. "Except Chase of course." She added, making all their smiles falter.

"Thank you, miss buzz kill." House told her. She smirked.

"None of us would ever have needed saving if you could actually hold a relationship with another human being." She added, placing her glass on the desk. "It was partly why Voglar had to go. I think Chase is the one who least deserved to get sacked. You are going to see him – personally see him – to tell him he is getting his job back." House scowled.

"Keep in mind that you only cost us about one hundred million dollars." She pressed further, making him wrinkle his nose. "You should be mourning. I know I am." And she walked away.

"Wow, nice end to the party." House muttered, drinking from his glass. Cameron sighed; "I think she's right House. You were awful to Chase. Go make up with him."

"Yeah, hoping sex with Chase is actually worth one hundred million dollars." Foreman laughed.

"Shut up Foreman." House snapped, drinking down his own wine hastily, and shooing them all outside his office. "Party's over, go have a threesome or something." He told them irritably. As soon as they had left, he leaned against the door of his office and groaned. What a pain.

Well, he probably had to make sure Chase wasn't drowning in his shower or something. Growling at the searing pain in his leg, he began to walk down the near-empty hallway. He suddenly remembered Wilson had not refilled his Vicodin. Crap. Now he'd have to go see Chase with this searing, throbbing ache in his leg.

Just great.


	9. One Week

Alright, new chapter finally! This is the longest one yet, with a full 23 pages on word XD

Hope you like it! I really like it myself. It was fun writing it anyway. By the way… if any of you happen to be a doctor or something and you find mistakes in any medical words I used, could you please tell me? I really want this to be as realistic as possible.

Another huge thanks to all my reviewers! I try to reply to your comments the best I can, sorry if I missed out somebody… And one last thing: I'd like to change the title of this story. If you have any ideas, could you please tell me? I'd like to call it Endless Sacrifice, but I'm not quite sure. I'm not very good at titles :P

Still don't own House, M.D.!! Enjoy!!!

**Chapter Nine**

**One Week**

_It's been one week since you looked at me  
Threw your arms in the air  
and said "You're crazy"  
Five days since you tackled me  
I've still got the rug burns on both my knees  
It's been three days since the afternoon  
You realized it's not my fault  
not a moment too soon  
Yesterday you'd forgiven me  
And now I sit back and wait 'til you say you're sorry_

----

Chase entered the office slowly.

"You paged me?" He inquired and House nodded while looking at the surface of his desk with determination not to look elsewhere. Chase hesitantly moved forwards and sat in front of the desk. "Um… so? What's going on?" He asked.

House seemed tense – even more than when they had gone on a date. He was twisting a pen between his fingers and absent-mindedly staring into space. Chase cleared his throat, making House jump slightly and look at him at last, his eyes betraying no emotion as he said; "You're fired." He'd rather do it quick, like ripping off a band-aid. Only problem was that instead of it being a piece of bandage he could just throw away, it was a human being.

Chase felt his mouth go dry and he nearly choked on his breath. "What? But…"

House decided in less than a second that he'd better do it quick now that he'd begun and disengage himself completely. "I'm firing you. Though I'll admit getting sacked doesn't look too good on a CV, so I'm going to let you write a resignation paper. Gather your stuff, you're gone." He told his employee as slowly as he could despite the fact his heart was beating so fast it felt like it would implode. Chase stared back blankly; "But… when we will see each other? We'll hang out on weekends right?"

"No. I want you out of here. Out of my life." House stated numbly. Chase couldn't believe it; how could he say these things so calmly?

"But how can you just change your mind like that? I mean, what happened?" Chase pleaded for answers, trying to grasp on to something he felt was real.

Because this all seemed so unreal and fake.

House smirked vaguely. "Nothing has changed. I never said that I love you." A silence passed between them before he went on; "Because I don't. I never did. You should have listened to Wilson and Cuddy; we were certain to end like this. You were fun while it lasted but now it's over." Chase felt water sting his eyes. He blinked.

"How can you say that?! I thought – at least, that you were my friend!" House snickered darkly; "Well, you thought wrong." Chase bowed his head and stood up dejectedly. House stood too, leaning on his cane expectantly. "But… I love you." Was all Chase could find to say. It sounded dumb, hopeless, but it was everything that mattered to him – he had to let House understand that. His throat was brittle dry; House wasn't reacting at all. Chase just stood there feeling more awkward than ever, wishing against all hope that House would just say something. Anything. Even scream at him; anything would be enough.

He didn't.

Chase bit back a sob, ran his fingers through his hair and took a step forwards as he placed a feathery kiss on the older man's lips.

It was the worst kiss of Chase's life. House didn't move, didn't respond or give into the Australian's passion. Chase backed away slowly, ending what was sure to be their last kiss with a profound regret. He noticed a strange look on House's face just before it disappeared – a dreamy stare, yet filled with a deep expression of grief. It was gone before he had the chance to contemplate it more, and a voice snapped him back to the harsh reality he was in.

"Leave. You're done." House said, handing him a resignation form. Chase met his gaze with another pleading look, but he knew it was bleak. It also seemed to annoy House because this time he shouted; "GET OUT! IT'S OVER! I'M DONE WITH YOU. ADIOS."

Chase thought he could feel his heart actually breaking; the pain was unbearable. He turned on his heels and left with fast executed steps.

----

He woke up with a gasp, breathing like mad. Great, now he was going to have nightmares… He got up and went to drink some water in an attempt to make his headache fade. It had already been a day, and he wasn't over it. He knew this was ridiculous, but he had kept replaying the scene over and over in his head ever since he'd left the hospital.

It scared him how accurately he could remember all the little details.

It scared him even more to think that he remembered his nightmares so well.

His head was already throbbing when he heard four booming knocks at the door. Not only was he having head aching nightmares, he had to be disturbed in the middle of the night, too. He checked his watch, whose nightlight gleamed eleven thirty three. Okay, great, now he couldn't even be annoyed and say he had been sleeping. "Coming…" he called as he made his way to the entrance. He unlocked the door, opened it swiftly…

And slammed it in House's face.

He walked off and slumped on the couch. How _dare _that bastard show his face here. Hadn't he done enough damage that he had to come make him feel worse by stalking him right to his own apartment? As if he didn't already feel terrible as it was!

He heard the door open and realized with a pang that he hadn't locked it after slamming it shut. "Go away." He shouted blindly in the darkness; "I don't want to see you." He heard House cough and tap the wall in search of the light switch. He found it and light shone dimly from the ceiling spots. Chase rubbed his eyes at the searing twinge that burnt them and scowled.

"Now you see me." House told him.

"Fuck you House. Get out of here." Chase replied in a colorless voice. He thought he heard House mumble something before stating rather dramatically: "Voglar is dead."

Chase stopped rubbing his eyes, opening them wide and ignoring the burning sensation. "What the hell? What did he wall down the stairs or something?" House laughed faintly. "No, Voglar – the idea – is dead. Mr. Destructo, Mr. Moneybags, bow-down-before-me; he is gone from the hospital. So everything can go back to the way it was."

A silence rang through the room as House leant on his cane with a weird serene face and Chase scowled again. "The way it was kind of weird. And besides, weren't you the one who kicked me out? Or was it all because of Voglar?"

House cleared his throat; "No, I… Cuddy told me to tell you that you can have your job back." Chase nodded, "She did, did she? Well you tell her that I said I don't want it. Not if I have to work with you." House smiled widely; "Thought you'd say that. So did you find a new job already?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow and knowing damn well Chase had probably not gone looking for a job yet.

"Um, no. I hadn't gone around to." The Australian admitted; "But I'm still not coming back."

"Knew you'd say that too. Too much ego?"

Chase clenched his fists and bit back his retort. He thought it over a second; he really loved his job, and now he could have it back. Why refuse? It wasn't like he was scared of House. Furious at him, sure, but in no way scared. He wouldn't give in; that would make him look weak. "I like my job. I want it back." He decided on saying it and being the mature one. House nodded. "Everything is arranged with Cuddy. See you in the morning then."

House turned to leave. Instead of pleasing Chase, House's words made him even more infuriated. "That's it? You're going to act like nothing happened?" He snapped at his boss's back before he could leave. "Of course," House replied, hand on the doorknob, "Because nothing happened. Nothing important anyway. By the way, she told me to apologize. So here; I'm sorry."

Chase sat back on his couch, "Right," and watched House leave without another word.

----

House limped through the main doors of PPTH. The scene was total calamity. Nurses and doctors were running around in every direction while hundreds of patients stormed about impatiently, all wearing surgeon masks. Many were sitting in the waiting room with pained, sick faces but most were standing arranged in lines in front of various doctors. The air was thick with voices, coughs, groans, children's cries and messages from the intercom forbidding anyone to leave without a blue slip because it was a quarantined area.

Praying that Cuddy wasn't anywhere in the vicinity, House turned and made to walk strait out. Nobody had even glanced twice at him, he was completely incognito…

"Dr House!" Called a familiar voice. Oh crap. "Need you here…!" He turned to look at Cuddy with the best 'What the hell is this crap' face he could muster, explaining; "Sorry – lot of sick people," he gestured to the epidemic, "I might catch something." Cuddy smirked characteristically; "A judge at a local pool collapse from a viral form of meningitis."

"Great!" House answered, "You've got it diagnosed, don't need me." And he turned to walk away again, but was stopped by Cuddy once more. "Twenty-five hundred people at the pool were exposed. They're being bused to all the neighboring hospitals."

"Not for diagnostics." House shot back, "I'd be completely lost, I'd just get in everyone's way." He turned to leave a third time, but Cuddy spoke to the door-guard, who was also wearing a surgeon mask: "Joe. Dr House doesn't have a blue slip. No one leaves the quarantined area without a blue slip." House scowled, but turned yet again to face Cuddy who told him warningly; "You are a doctor at this hospital; act like one. And take these." She handed him a little cup with some red pills in it before striding away.

He shot a cheery smile at the door guardian and swallowed the pills dry.

----

That morning was a fairly calm affair; if you didn't take into count the hundreds and hundreds of sick people. House was once and again surprised at how large the epidemic was, just when he was beginning to notice the crowd was slimming a bit, he saw a new bus arrive – goody. That meant extra hours probably.

And he'd been hoping to make fun of Chase for a bit this morning.

In fact, he'd almost been happy to come in this morning.

Who could tell him it's his fault he's miserable now?

He was just about to give up and go nag Cuddy for the sake of it, when a new patient came into the exam room. Oh, right. He'd been the one to shout 'next!' hadn't he? The patient was a little blonde girl wearing a swimming team sport jacket, meaning she was one of the swimmers. She came to sit down and he immediately noticed her intense gaze. Clearly, she was no girly little push-over. Fun.

"Yow…" he declared as he took her temperature. She sighed; "Fever. Does that mean I have it?" House shrugged vaguely and asked; "Do you have a rash?" She looked away furtively. "C'mon." He pressed. She lifted her shirt and he looked at her stomach. She explained; "It's from my new bathing suit, I've had it a week." He nodded, taking notes; "Yeah… Does your neck hurt?"

"It's nothing. I pulled it while doing a dive…" House frowned, still not looking at her; "Where are you parents?"

"We live in Chicago. I'm here with my coach." She told him and craned her neck to look at his clipboard. He turned his head slightly and narrowed his eyes. "I wanted to see what you were writing…" She argued. He just frowned more. "Go like this." He ordered, turning his head from side to side. She did it too, hissing at the pain it caused her. He bit his lip; "Now go like this…" He indicated nodding up and down and she followed his lead, this time easily and pain free. He stared at her, but was really just looking into space while the cogs worked away in his mind.

He went to get Foreman; "You're coming with me." He told him and Foreman grimaced, but nonetheless putting his equipment down and leaving his line of patients. Then he headed over to where Cameron was, whistled across the room and allocated for her to follow him with a nudge of the head. She gave an apologetic look to her line of waiting patients and hurried after her mentor.

Chase saw her leaving after House and scowled; leaving his patients too and running after the three doctors. House hadn't bothered to come and fetch _him_. When he caught up with them, Foreman was arguing that it was obviously meningitis. Before anyone could say anything more, Cuddy appeared, looking at House furiously, then at Chase; "Dr Chase: good to see you back. Now do you guys figure we're done down there?! Or are the eight hundred people milling around are just waiting in line for the bathroom?"

House stated; "Twelve year old female. Fever, rash, neck pain. And it's not meningitis." Cuddy scowled heavily. "It's the definition of meningitis!" House stopped and so did everyone else, waiting to hear what he could say to argue with that. "Sure," he agreed, "It makes it hurt for you to move your head up and down. But her head only hurts moving side to side."

"Oh, side to side?" Cuddy asked, sarcastically widening her eyes in a deeply concerned expression. "It doesn't fit!" House added. Cuddy looked ready to sprout wings and breathe fire; "The four of you – lobby – _now_." She glared, "You just don't want to deal with the epidemic." She announced, making him snort.

"That's right. I'm subjecting a twelve year old to a battery of dangerous and invasive tests to avoid being bored." He snapped back at Cuddy sardonically, making everyone stare at him with acute looks. "Okay," he confessed, "maybe I would do that. But I'm not! If it turns out she had meningitis, alright, you win. But if we go back downstairs and she dies… Tsk! Your face will be sooo red!" Cuddy seemed to reconsider, then made a grimace; "You have one hour." Before she left for good.

"Do a lumbar puncture; some brain infections can be pretty clever at hide-and-seek." He ordered Foreman, who turned to leave hurriedly. Cameron and Chase remained, with strained faces. Chase cleared his throat; "I'll get some blood." To which House replied; "No you won't." Chase stopped in his tracks and turned around with a defiant stare and Foreman stopped too, looking back at the scene. Both Foreman and Cameron could sense the tension mounting between the two doctors, but no one dared speak until House said; "You, sir, are going to research all causes in the universe of neck pain." Chase's jaw dropped; "The list is like two miles long!" He protested heatedly. Cameron shuffled her feet and Foreman stared. House's stern expression did not waver; "Start with the letter A." He suggested, raising an eyebrow.

Chase groaned indignantly and stormed away. Cameron looked torn between wanting to go comfort Chase and be mad at their boss, but she stayed put when House turned his glare to her. "You, run tests for meningitis. In case I'm wrong – it has happened." She nodded, keeping silent and she walked off with Foreman.

----

Chase marched into the conference room and plugged the laptop, fuming. At least he was alone in here so no one could see him mad like this. He knew what House was up to… Sure, he was giving him his job back, but he wasn't going to let him work at all. Unless you count useless internet research of course. He typed into Google: '_Neck pain_' and clicked on a few sites before he found a medical one with a really long list of neck pain causes. He was convinced that if he were to lay it out, it _could_ easily have dragged out for two full miles. He sat back and sighed, preparing for a really long eye-straining afternoon.

He'd only been working for about an hour when House came in. "What letter are you up to?" He threw at him, strolling around the table with his coffee. Bastard.

"A." Chase mumbled, his eyes already starting to feel droopy. Maybe that had to do with the fact he'd almost gotten no sleep that night. House was yet again a bastard, invading his dreams like that. He heard the older man stop behind him, no doubt checking the computer screen. Chase was thinking he should have closed the YouTube tab, but it was too late now. However, House took no notice of it.

"Wow, that looks really dull." He alleged, "Awful stuff." Chase resisted the urge to growl. Instead he replied pleasantly; "It's not a problem." He heard House take a sip of his coffee and say: "Oh well thank goodness. A lot of people would resent having to do this." Chase seethed. "I know what you're trying to do okay? You want to make me shout at you and complain about having to do this research, but I won't. I don't care."

"You just did shout at me." House remarked, making Chase growl this time. "Look, I didn't do anything to you. You're the one who has a problem! I didn't go to Voglar. I told you that didn't I?" He exclaimed, turning in his chair to face his tormentor, who just shrugged.

"Everybody lies." He declared, for the countless time.

"Yeah, and I was lying when I said I loved you. Because I don't. You're a horrible person; you're the worst miserable jerk I've ever met and I hate you. Got it?" Chase snapped back, completely losing his patience now. House smiled at him. How strange.

"Glad we're on the same level of thought." He told the Australian, "I'm happy we cleared this out." And he went to his office, leaving Chase to work on his assignment.

Only to be disturbed once again when Cameron and Foreman came back with test results and some images of the girl's stomach. They sat down to watch it and Chase abandoned his laptop, happy to have a distraction.

"I think I've seen this movie." Came a voice from behind them as House walked in, "The ending's kinda dark." Cameron scowled at him and he sat down next to Foreman, opening a bag of Smarties. "Want one?" He asked them, shaking the bag under their noses, except Chase's. He was ignoring Chase completely.

"Whoa, whoa whoa…" He told Cameron as she flipped through the frames on the computer, "Take it back a couple of frames. Oh yeah – that's your money shot." He declared, pointing at the screen. There followed a bland silence. "I don't see anything." Foreman said slowly. House smirked; "Really? Doesn't that ginormous thing on the right side of her intestine intrigue you?"

The three ducklings squinted; "Does ginormous mean really big or really really small because I don't see anything." Cameron told him. Chase pointed at a small red pustule on the screen; "There? That dulephoyle? That doesn't account for any of her other symptoms." Chase said, frowning. House sighed: "Nobody sees it?!" He asked impatiently. Cameron looked at him angrily; "Chase said –"

"I'm sorry what?" House cut her off, widening his eyes. She scowled and Foreman pressed in; "It doesn't account for her other symptoms." He told House, pointing at the screen. House ginned; "Good job Foreman. You're right, but it does tell us something. Although I have no idea what." Foreman squinted at the screen once more; "Could be a precursor to intestinal dissessemption…"

"That couldn't be causing any other of her symptoms. What else?" He threw at Cameron. She shook her head, thinking wildly, when Cuddy barged in, looking even more like a fire-breathing beast than she had done earlier. "You. In the lobby. Now." She told House, with a tone of voice that was clearly not too amused. "You've had your hour. Three, actually."

House pulled a face at Cameron; "Aw, Dr Cameron! I told you to tell us when our time was up!" Then he looked back up at Cuddy. "She has intestinal bleeding." He declared in a phony reassuring voice.

"She'll wait." Cuddy assured him. "Two more buses just arrived. We need you downstairs." She was now sounding very concerned, and House figured one more little push might do the trick. "No…" He told her, "You need more nurses. But you cut back on the nursing staff so now you've got doctors doing what nurses should be doing." He protested. Everyone winced as Cuddy snorted.

"Oh really? I guess that is true. I _wonder_ if it has anything to do with you costing us a hundred million dollars." She scoffed at him. House apparently had no answer to that because he just clenched his jaw and stayed silent. His ducklings looked at him warily.

With no other choice left to them, they descended back to the lobby and continued their differential there. This time, with Wilson around, they could ask about cancer.

"Get a sample of her bone marrow." House decided, looking at Foreman. "From here?" The neurologist questioned with a strange look. House shook his head; "Use your break." Foreman frowned; "You're giving me fifteen minutes?"

"Use Dr Chase's break too." House said, looking resentful to having to say the blond's name. And Foreman was off. Chase bit back a scowl and Cameron gave him a comforting pat on the arm.

No more than two minutes later, House and Wilson took their break too, resigning Chase to stay and work with no one to talk too. However, Cameron, being the nice person she is, decided not to take hers and stay with him.

"Why are you being so mean to Chase?" Wilson inquired as they made their way through the masses of people in the hallway. House smiled; "So you noticed already did you?" He said, not even attempting to hide the fact that he was being cruel to his duckling. "It's fun." He told the oncologist, who scowled.

"Haven't you put him through enough? You made him think you loved him, then you dumped him and fired him at the same time. Now you're going to torture him until he cracks or something? That's just cold." Wilson stated as they avoided someone vomiting in the middle of the corridor. House snorted; "He had it coming: If he thought he was going to come back to work and everything would be normal… well he was terribly wrong. It's like you kick a bulldog and don't expect it to bite you."

"Yeah okay," Wilson said, "except you're not a bulldog and Chase didn't kick you. He didn't do anything." House was about to reply something snappy about him being easily compared to a bulldog but he spotted Cuddy at the other end of the hallway, dangerously gaining on them. "Right turn!" He ordered and they turned. They got caught in a flock of sick people however and Cuddy closed in on them.

"What are you doing?" She snapped at them, "The rest of this hospital is working their butts off and you reckon you can just stroll around and –"

"Hey slow down. It's break time." House told her, rather unperturbed. She glared and heaved a sigh. "I heard from Cameron that you're being awful to Chase." House groaned interiorly: he really had it coming to him now…

"Whatever it is you're doing to him, he doesn't deserve it. Now stop acting like a thirteen year old and just get over it." She told him angrily. He scoffed.

"Get over what exactly? Him beating me out to Voglar when he explicitly told me I had his word he couldn't tell anyone? Yeah, that's real mature too. He could have cost me my job." Cuddy frowned; "What are you talking about?" House scrunched up his face and rubbed his forehead. _Now_ he was really done for. "The Ipecac." He confessed, unmistakably annoyed.

"The Ipecac…?" Cuddy's face shone of realization suddenly; "What? You think… You think _Chase_ told Voglar? House, that's ridiculous! Voglar found the bottle. I was the one who took it from Chase, I'll admit, but I promised not to tell Voglar." House stared, but then shook his head. "No. You're just trying to protect him. Bye now."

He left hurriedly and Wilson followed, troubled. Cuddy sighed and scratched her head.

----

Cameron looked sideways at Chase. He was calmly examining benign patient after benign patient but she noticed he looked uptight. "House is horrible." She told him, "But you shouldn't let it get to you. Go complain to Cuddy." Chase shook his head; "There's nothing to complain about. He was always horrible." He affirmed, not looking at her.

"Oh come on… He's being a total jerk."

"Drop it. Okay? It's fine." Chase told her, not unpleasantly, but determinately staring her in the eye. She nodded with haste; "okay… sorry." And they continued with their work until Chase told Cameron to go take her break and he'd be fine. She protested a bit, saying she felt bad leaving him alone here, but he said it was fine and she finally gave in, rushing to the conference room for a quick coffee.

Chase sighed and saw House and Wilson talking vigorously in a corner of the lobby. He tried to stay focused on his patients, but couldn't help stealing constant glances at them. House looked brooding, and Wilson seemed to be scolding him. It was very peculiar. House suddenly hit the floor with his cane and obviously shouted something at the oncologist because nearby people stopped to stare at him. Chase narrowed his eyes. He thought he'd heard his name. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but still… it was strange that House and Wilson were arguing like this.

Not that it was strange for them to argue because that was practically a synonym for 'conversation' with those two, but it was strange that they seemed to be really honestly angry at each other. In fact, Chase didn't think he'd ever seen Wilson angry.

That's when House glared daggers at Wilson and stormed away. The oncologist rubbed his eyes, placing a hand on his hip and walked out of the lobby, looking troubled.

Chase was wondering where House had gone to, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He swiveled around and was met with House's livid face. "I thought, maybe, I told you to do a research on neck pain?" He questioned, visibly not in the mood to argue with him now too. Chase was frightened by that face, but didn't let it show.

"Okay, sure." He stammered, "I'll get right on it." House just continued to stare through him unnervingly and Chase left his awaiting line of patients once more to go back to the conference room. He had nearly reached the door when he felt someone behind him. He turned and found that House had followed him. He glared; "What now?"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, House grabbed him roughly by the lab coat and banged him against the glass wall of the conference room, crashing their mouths together in a fiery kiss. Chase gave a cry of fierce protest, but House was too firm, he couldn't turn away. For god's sake – they were in the middle of a hallway! Given, there were less people up here than down in the lobby, but still some people now and then. Before he could try and throw the older man off him again, the magic of the moment took hold of him and he found himself intriguingly kissing back. It was violent, it was sweaty and harsh, but he loved every second of it. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed this.

All too soon, it was over and House backed away. Chase felt that he was blushing like mad, but he determinately stared up at House, whose expression still had not changed. He was sternly looking over him, as if he were drinking in every feature. Chase suddenly felt an overwhelming yearning sensation. He wanted House; he needed House to want him back. Or else, he didn't know what he would do.

House continued to ignore Chase's pleading looks, and said; "Go now. You still have to cover K to Z." Chase groaned; "Why won't you talk to me? What's your problem? You hate me, then you kiss me…" House nodded vehemently; "Doesn't mean anything. Work now."

"IT DOES!" Chase bellowed; "STOP AVOIDING YOURSELF!" House looked taken aback for a moment, then he glared; "Shut up. I'm not avoiding anything." Chase snarled; "Yes you are – you're avoiding your feelings. You can't deal with anything when it comes to emotions, admit it! So stop kidding yourself, because you're not fooling anyone. Make a decision; or I might decide I really hate you and there won't be anymore chances. I knew I was taking a big risk that first time when I asked you on a date, but I thought it was worth it. I overcame my uneasiness – now it's your turn. I've done my part of the deal. Do yours." He glared one last time at the older doctor, and marched into the conference room, feeling ready to lash out at anyone.

Unluckily, there was already someone in the conference room when he went in.

A very wide-eyed Cameron was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in her hand. Chase understood that she must have seen the whole thing, with the walls being made of glass and everything. He rubbed his neck uneasily and sat in front of his laptop, wobbling the mouse to get it off the screensaver. He swore out loud: House had closed his window. The one with all the causes of neck pain. And he hadn't even thought to put it in his favorites. He grumbled and went to the history, but that had been cleared too. He clenched his teeth and tried hard not to swear again.

Cameron coughed. "What happened?" She asked tentatively. "House erased my history so I can't find the list of neck pain causes I had…" He explained, surfing through the Google result pages he'd already been through for about twenty minutes earlier today. He remembered he'd found it on page sixteen or something…

"Not that…" Cameron continued; "I mean, that's mean too, but… what happened just now?"

"You saw the whole thing; there's nothing to explain." Chase replied, closing the conversation implicitly. She drew a sharp inhale, as if she'd been about to say something she shouldn't. Seconds later, after moments of biting her lip anxiously, she finally said; "I can't just sit back and watch him do this, Chase. I'm sorry, but it has to stop… You should tell him." Chase closed his eyes and sighed.

"I already did. He won't listen. I can't make him love me." He told her, without trying to mask the sadness in his voice this time. She avoided his gaze and took a sip of coffee to avoid having to reply, but gave him a short conceding nod. He turned back to Google and found his web page at last. Cameron's break was no over and she had to leave. She did so with great regret, but he just shrugged when she excused himself. He felt more comfortable working without her hanging around all concerned about him.

He wasn't really sad… Just offended and angry. House had unambiguously shown him that he didn't give a damn about him. There was nothing left to be said or done. What was done was done, and Chase knew he couldn't take anything back. The only thing he could control was his anger, so he decided to take his punishment in silence. It was his decision! Not as if he was scared of House, because that wasn't true; House didn't control him. He used to respect the older man, like him even and more, but it seemed you really can't always get what you want. House was done with him and as much as that upset him… there was nothing he could do.

House was a lone man. Chase just had to accept that.

He realized his vision had gone blurry and that he hadn't read anything for over five minutes, so he rubbed his eyes tiredly and got back to work.

He went on undisturbed until he heard voices next door and noticed Foreman, Cameron and House were doing a differential in House's office. Jerks, he thought, more in direction of House, but still angry at the lot of them. Those two were as bad as him; they were letting House do this to him. He just felt like letting go, closing the computer and just plain leaving. But he knew he couldn't do that; the hospital was in full-fledged epidemic. He was needed here. So either he was in the lobby or working on this research. House had clearly given him no choice but to work here, so he figured leaving wouldn't be a good idea. He saw Cameron and Foreman leave, probably to do some tests, and House sat at his desk, plugging his iPod. Chase groaned as he saw that the letter N went one for quite a while longer, and he sat back in his chair, rubbing his eyes once again. The day was almost over, he would be leaving soon.

Soon actually came all too soon. House was no where to be found, and so he was left at the hospital with Foreman and Cameron. At least now that House had left he could go and help his colleagues. He closed the laptop for good, making sure to put the website in his favorites this time, and started to look for the two doctors.

They weren't hard to find; now that the epidemic had cooled down considerably, they had gotten Mary a room. She was in there with her parents and coach, and Foreman and Cameron were watching from outside. "Got a diagnosis yet?" He questioned as he walked up to them. Cameron failed to say anything, looking depressed, so Foreman answered. "No toxins, no tumor, no bone cancer." He told him. Chase thought around for a second, then; "Renal failure could cause a rash, fever and muscle pain. Maybe a genetic kidney disorder?" Cameron shook her head.

"No family history of it. And she has no blood in her urine. Yet." They all heaved sighs, watching their patient chatting with her parents. Chase frowned and cocked his head, observing the balloons and banners people had put up in the girl's room. "We're missing something…" He stated slowly. Cameron shook her head; "You think maybe she's adopted and we've got the wrong history?" The blond doctor cocked his head further; "No… That's a lot of balloons." He stated, not really sure what he was getting on to. Foreman coughed; "You think she's allergic to polyester?"

"No, nothing like that…" Chase answered, turning his back to the patient room and throwing his head back, trying to think. "Let's say… that the rash isn't a rash." He speculated, making Foreman rumble. "What are you saying? You're not making much sense." He sounded annoyed, but Cameron tittered at him; "Let him think, he might be on to something!" To which Foreman grunted back; "Yeah, or he might just be tired form having sit in front of a computer screen all day and he's not thinking strait!"

"Shut up!" Chase told Foreman, spinning around to face him, "Just… let me think. Let's see… Who gave her the balloons?" Foreman frowned angrily, so Cameron answered. "Some girls from her team. Why?" Chase nodded; "What about guys? Did any guys visit her?" When Cameron frowned too and said; "Come to think of it… I don't think any guys have visited her at all…" something clicked in Chase's head. He smiled; "Yeah, because they're all older right?"

"True… the youngest one on her team is sixteen." Foreman agreed. "So," Chase went on, "Either they're just not interested… or…" Cameron's eyes widened; "They're avoiding her." She cogitated, and Chase nodded. "Where there any cell fragments in her blood smears?" Foreman checked the file and shook his head briefly; "No. All intact." Chase brought a hand to his lip thoughtfully, "Let's check them again." So they went to the lab and ran some more tests.

"My god, you're right." Cameron stated, looking out from her microscope, "The rash wasn't a rash; she's bleeding into her own skin pores." They all exchanged anguished looks, and Foreman sighed; "What could have set that off?" He asked, and started to eliminate all the known causes, all as un-likely as the next, leaving out only one. Chase bit his lip; "There's one more possible cause." He stated. Cameron gasped; "Oh god… you don't think –?" Chase nodded. "Come with me." And they headed back to the patient's room.

When they got there, Mary's parents and coach had left the room and she watched in silence as they set up an echography. She seemed affable enough, but they noticed she was pretty tense. When what they feared had appeared on the screen, they turned to look at her, trying not to stare. She sighed; "I'm pregnant." She tried.

"Uhh, yeah." Chase declared, "Pregnancy can cause all sorts of chemical and biological changes in a woman's body. Or a… girl's body… In extremely rare cases, everything goes haywire. It's called TTP" Mary looked away; "I wanted it. He turned out to be a jerk, but…"

"You wanted it?" Cameron inquired unbelievingly. The little girl nodded back, "Yeah, I did. I knew what I was doing." Chase, Foreman and Cameron all exchanged worried glances. Chase cleared his throat; "I'm afraid that… we're going to have to terminate the pregnancy. It's too dangerous for you, I trust you understand right?" Mary's face went from considerably serene, to frightened, to worried in under five seconds.

"You gonna tell my mom and dad?" She asked with remarkable assurance. Chase looked at his teammates warily before answering; "Under New-Jersey law… if you don't want us to… we won't tell them." Mary nodded; "I'll be fine. They don't need to know."

"Are you sure?" Cameron asked her reassuringly, "They're your parents… They'll understand won't they?" Mary looked away for a second then firmly said, "No. I'll be okay." Chase knew they couldn't do anything so he nodded and handed her a tissue to wipe away the goo on her stomach, before walking over to the foot of the bed to write something on a clipboard. "You'll be scheduled for an abortion as soon as we can." He told her and they left to go to the conference room. Luckily, they hadn't met with her parents when they'd come out of the room. They would deal with them later they supposed.

"Shouldn't we have called House?" Cameron asked carefully as they sat down. Chase didn't even acknowledge her question and Foreman gave a snort; "Yeah. And get yelled at for waking him up? Not a chance. He wasn't there, too bad." Cameron fell silent and they looked over the files and procedures for Mary's abortion. A while later, Cameron left to go schedule it. Chase and Foreman made her swear not to tell the girl's parents, fearing she would give in to her worried nature.

As soon as she'd left, Foreman hummed cheerily while Chase put his face in his hands and leant on his elbows, feeling tired. He was sharply snapped out of his abstraction when Foreman cleared his throat suddenly; "House was a bastard to you today."

"He's always a bastard." Chase stated back. Foreman gave an agreeing hum; "Yeah, but more than usual. I mean, ignoring you and all…" Chase glared at him. "What do you care? You and Cameron just stood there and watched me take it." Foreman raised an eyebrow. "Cameron told me you didn't want help."

"Oh yeah? What else have you two been saying behind my back? Making gay jokes perhaps?" Foreman stared, "No of course not. I'm sorry Chase, but you don't seem to realize what you're like from our point of view. When House treats you like this, you just stare back at him blankly. You're an easy target; and you can't blame him from taking advantage of that. I kept wondering when you would fight back you know?" Chase grumbled incoherently before replying; "Have you ever been forced to hate someone you love?"

Foreman looked taken aback. "No…" He admitted cautiously. "Well, there you go. It's not easy. No more than a few days ago; it felt like he loved me too. Everything was perfect, and then he suddenly decided to push me away. You know what it's like trying to get answers out of House don't you? It's a no-win situation." Foreman nodded; "Okay. I understand, but I still think you should stand up to him more." Then he smiled; "And House should piss you of more often – you make a great doctor when you're mad." Chase swallowed back a snappy retort and put his face back in his hands, scratching at his temples.

Cameron was back; "Mary's scheduled for seven o' clock tomorrow." She announced, and they nodded. She sat back down and an awkward silence followed, only to be broken when Wilson unexpectedly came in. He got strait to the point as always; "Chase… Do you want to come with me please? Or are you not done for the night?" Chase frowned, "No… I mean, yeah, sure, we're done right?" His colleagues nodded, so he followed Wilson outside.

They walked down the hallway and the stairs and neither of them spoke until they were outside the main doors. "Um, where are we going?" Chase asked suspiciously. Wilson stopped and rubbed the back of his neck, "Outside the hospital…" His face was illuminated by the light coming from inside the hospital and he looked tired. "I figured you would need some fresh air." Chase nodded appreciatively, and gave Wilson a puzzled look, inviting him to go on. The oncologist sighed slowly; "I'm really sorry. For what House did."

"What making me work uselessly and ignoring me? It's nothing, I mean… He's always being mean to me in some way, I reckon he'll just get past it and –" Wilson shook his head. "No I mean… did he… kiss you?" He inquired, hoping he wasn't wrong. Chase frowned, was tempted to lie, but decided against it for some reason. "yeah… um, why?" Wilson turned his face on him, rubbed his neck again and turned back to look at him.

"I got mad at him. I yelled because he was being awful to you. And he um… seemed to realize what he was doing was wrong. You probably know by now that House really doesn't know how to deal with these feeling he has for you right?" Chase shook his head; "He doesn't feel anything for me. Forget it. He hates me."

"No. He doesn't. Trust me." Wilson confirmed, before sighing again, "House told me he would rather die than lose you. I told him what he should do, that is; apologize to you, I mean, _really_ apologize, but you know… House can be, well, House. He likes to take crazy, drastic measures. When it involves medicine, it works fairly well. Just… not when it involves love." Wilson finished. Chase raised an eyebrow quizzically and Wilson looked deeply saddened. "Look, House decided he would go and kiss you and see how you reacted."

Chase stared. "And based on my reaction… what would he do then?"

"I don't know. He didn't want to tell me. That's why I was so worried – because he told me… that… you know, he'd rather die." Chase felt as if a bucket of frozen water had been tipped over his head. He spluttered; "What?! Did he – he didn't _kill_ himself?!"

"No!" Wilson reassured him urgently. "He… he went to my office. I wasn't there all day because I had a lot of work today, but when I went in earlier, I found him sleeping in my chair. Well, at least I supposed he was sleeping. I shouted at him to wake up, shook him, but he didn't budge. And when I took his pulse, well… he was breathing, just really faintly. I bet if I'd had been a little later to find him, he'd probably have died. Vicodin overdose." Wilson explained softly. Chase leant against the wall of the hospital, breathing hard.

"Where is he now?" He asked. "In an ER room. We'll get to visit him in three hours or so." Chase nodded. "Thanks. You're… really a good friend James." He told the oncologist lamely, though it made him smile slightly. "Anything I can do Robert. I understand how devastated you must be… It'll be tough, but he'll get better and you'll have to talk to him you know." Chase nodded again, closing his eyes, feeling almost peaceful in the nightly breeze. He smiled back at Wilson and went back into the hospital.

He suddenly wished he'd stayed outside; the smell in here was appalling, but he went back to the conference room anyway. Cuddy was there, apparently, she'd come to explain the situation to Foreman and Cameron because they were all looking shocked and miserable. They gave Chase sympathetic glances as he walked in and sat down, but the tension didn't drop as time went by.

These were the three longest hours Chase had ever had to wait for. It seemed the seconds had turned into minutes; every time he checked his watch, it felt like an hour had passed when it had only been about thirty seconds. Cuddy kept changing seats, roaming between the conference room and House's office and looking outside the window. Foreman was sitting completely still, with his elbows against the surface of the table, staring at his interlocked fingers. Wilson was fidgeting in his seat, looking at each of them in turn, while Cameron sat and stood up in turns, anxiously playing around with various objects.

At long last, only two hours later, a nurse from the emergency wing came in to tell them House was conscious and they could visit him. They left hastily, not exchanging a word or a look. Chase felt like his legs were made of jell-o, and he was all shaky. Or maybe it was hunger? Whatever it was, it was extremely uncomfortable. They had moved House to a regular room and when the came in, he lazily looked up at them all.

A silence passed and the nurse left them alone with him. Cuddy was the one to break the ice; "How could you House? I thought you were stronger than that!" And she started to cry slightly, kneeling down beside his bed. Cameron, Foreman and Chase remained at the foot of the bed while Wilson took the right side of the bed, looking down at House. He avoided their stares, apparently ashamed at himself. He couldn't find the right words, and there was a lump in his throat.

"I didn't think the fact you'd 'rather die' was to be taken literally." Wilson affirmed and House's head snapped up at him; "Yeah. That's usually how people feel when someone they know commits suicide – why didn't I see the signs? I should have done something!" He told them mockingly. Wilson groaned; "This isn't the time for jokes House! And you didn't commit suicide, you're alive okay? Just talk to us…"

"There's nothing to say. I nearly died. But it doesn't matter, alright? Really." House snarled back. Cameron flinched, and Cuddy's tears flowed even faster. "Can't you realize how sad we'd have all been if you'd really killed yourself?" Wilson asked him unbelievingly.

"No." House replied coldly. "Just… leave me alone." Wilson glared at him and helped Cuddy get up. "C'mon…" He muttered, walking her out of the room with one last harsh look at House. Foreman and Cameron turned to leave too, but Chase stayed still as a statue in front of his boss. He gestured for his colleagues to leave, and they did.

He walked over to the left side of House's bed and kneeled down just like Cuddy had done a minute ago. House turned his head to the side and said stubbornly; "Go away." Chase sighed; "No. I won't okay? Not until you tell me the truth. Wilson explained why you kissed me earlier… And why you fucking tried to kill yourself. I know why alright? So don't even try." House glared daggers at him; "Yeah, I kissed you to see how you would react. And you shouted at me again. Just admit that you don't love me. I have to know." Chase stared; "I do love you alright? I've never loved someone like I love you now. But you're such an idiot sometimes! I mean… _suicide_, House? Out of all the stupid things people do to get other people to love them again… that's the worst one. For everybody. It never ends well." House turned his head to the right again.

"Why do you love me?"

Chase stared at him blankly; "You want me to explain why I love you?!"

"No, I want you to repeat everything I say!" House replied sarcastically, "Of course I want you to explain why you love me! God damn it: I'm crippled, like twice your age, not good looking… I'm not even nice! So why the hell do you love me? You're young, you've got a future… you're handsome… everything." Chase bit his lip and twiddled his thumbs. "I just… really love you. How can you expect me to explain that? You're smart, funny… and there's something in you that is really kind of nice. It makes my heart swell and… and stuff. You know?"

House frowned; "No I don't; I'm not a girl."

"Oh will you cut it out? This isn't third grade, okay? This is real life! You can't toy with my emotions. Either you love me or not!" Chase exclaimed, "It's just… something about that moment when you kissed me in Exam room four… I don't know, it just sort of… fitted so perfectly. It was then when I realized I wanted more. I want to be the one who knows everything about you, I want to wake up next to you every morning, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life." He finished, suddenly feeling as if he were in some crappy Hollywood love movie. He shook his head and waited for House's reply – he couldn't take back what he'd just said. Not that he'd want to; he just knew it had sounded girly.

House's heart monitor rate increased a little, and he stared at Chase with his mouth slightly open. "I…" he began, unsure of what to say, "I… God, Chase, if I had known…" He confessed desperately. Chase smiled; "If only you had asked me how I felt… Then this would never have happened."

House sat up and Chase straitened his back to keep up with his height, raising his head a little.

"If I had known that, I would never have done this. Man I feel so stupid." House declared, closing his eyes in pain. Chase hushed; "I know, I know… I'm so sorry too, we really should have talked. You um… you know I didn't tell Voglar right?" The cripple nodded; "Yeah, Cuddy told me. And listen, truth is. I've been feeling really bad about ignoring you and everything. I'm…" He gulped, "I'm sorry. I love you."

Chase grinned; "So forgive and forget?"

"I wouldn't say forget; it's important that we remember this. Learn from our mistakes you know? Or whatever…" House told him, "But I wouldn't say no to forgive." Chase's grin widened; "You know they say mistakes forgiven in love makes bonds stronger?" House smiled a real genuine smile; "Does it make sex even better?" Chase chuckled; "We'll just have to see…" And he kissed his boss lightly, careful not to be rough. House kissed back as if his life depended on it, and Chase drew back, standing up.

"You should get some sleep." He told him, trying to ignore his disappointed face – it was just too cute. Wait… what?! Now he really sounded like a girl…

House nodded nonetheless and puffed his pillow before lying back down.

Chase went outside the room and came face to face with Cuddy, Wilson, Foreman and Cameron; they were all smiling. Oh, right, the walls were made of glass; they'd probably been watching them. Cuddy made a small wet laugh through her silent tears; "Looks like everything is better now?" Chase nodded. "What did he say?" Wilson asked, still concerned. Chase smiled; "He said he was sorry."

And they all left, probably to go home and get some sleep; it was only eleven thirty after all. Chase sighed contently and went back into House's room. He sat next to the bed and House tiredly turned his gaze to him. "What are you still doing here?" Chase smiled; "I'm not going home… I'm going to sleep here with you until you get better."

"I'll be out of here in like a day, there's nothing to worry about." House told him.

"Hey come on, I want to stay with you. Just because."

"Okay then. Well, good night." House replied, turning off the light on the nightstand. Chase tried to make himself comfortable in the chair, but it was rather stiff. He eventually fell asleep though, lost in a world of peaceful content, hoping that everything would be alright from now on.

He knew they would be. While it is true you can't always get what you want, if you try sometimes, you can get what you need.


	10. Easy

Okay, last chapter everyone! I could have done another one, but it would have been too short and I'd like to end it at ten chapters, it's a nice number. Thanks a whole lot to all my reviewers, you guys are what kept me writing, including all those people who either favorited this or put it in their alerts…

I'd also like to make something clear; I don't write sex scenes. Okay? I prefer to stay on the fine line of suggestivity. Not that I haven't tried writing them… it's just that they never work out. And I feel it takes away something from the story. I don't mind reading them, but I don't like writing them.

So, enjoy! And I don't own House, M.D.

**Chapter Ten**

**Easy**

_Easy to be with you  
Easy to obey  
Easy to forgive you at the end of the day  
Easy not to judge you  
Easy to betray  
Easy to adore you though you want to run away_

----

House stirred slowly and woke up with a jolt. He looked around the room and saw Chase nodding in his sleep on the chair next to him. He groaned at the renewed pain in his thigh. Maybe that had been the one good thing about killing himself with vicodin; it had been completely painless. However, he wasn't dead and Chase obviously didn't want him to die. House thought over their conversation of last night. Had Chase really said those things? It seemed like a mere dream to him, so far away and unreal.

"Hey pretty boy," He called out at the blond, who snapped out of his sleep at once. Stifling a yawn, he said; "Hey… are you okay? How's your leg?" causing House to stares, at a loss for words. Chase was genuinely concerned… really worried about his health. That was a shock to him. "I'm… I'm fine." He told his duckling, trying to smile. Chase grinned back at him; "Great. A silence passed through them, disturbed only by the beeping of House's heart monitor and Chase grasped the old man's hands in his own. "Greg," He suddenly said, leaning his head to rest it upon House's chest, "I… please, promise you won't ever do anything as stupid as what you did yesterday. I never want to go through that fear of losing you again."

House stared back with a vacant look, and cleared his throat. "I promise." Chase's eyes widened, and House added, "Robert." Chase smiled.

"It's the first time you've ever called me by my first name." House stated dumbly, making the blond laugh; "It's the first time you've ever promised something to me. And yesterday was the first time you ever said you loved me." He shot back and House smiled, defeated, and stroked the side of Chase's face. "Don't ever think I want to risk losing you again. What I did was stupid, but it proved my point; you need me."

Chase nodded, deciding against trying to deny it; "I do." Just then, Cameron and Foreman entered the room. Cameron spoke up before anyone else could; "The nurses said you'll be fine. You can go now." House smirked and nudged towards the nightstand where his vicodin bottle was and Chase handed it to him. He took two of them and lay back down, waiting for them to take effect.

"Here, thought you might want this…" Cameron told him, holding out House's unfinished package of Smarties from yesterday. He took it and began eating them quite happily, until he felt the pain in his leg dissipate and he got up slowly with the help of his cane and Chase. Everyone watched closely as he stood up and limped his way out of the room. Only he could act as normal as this after a suicide attempt.

No one dared mention it, guessing everything had been sorted out.

House seemed in a reasonably okay mood for someone who'd just had a massive overdose of vicodin. "So, what happened to the little mermaid?" He questioned, looking at the whiteboard as they entered the conference room. It had previously been wiped clean by Cameron, so House could only guess they had solved the case. Foreman was the one to answer him; "Chase found the answer. She was pregnant. She had an abortion like… four hours ago." House frowned; "What? That's it?" They nodded back at him.

"Yeah… that was it." Chase told him, "I noticed no guys had visited her… anyway, we ran another test of her blood samples and found cell fragments in them. So… her rash wasn't actually a rash. It all just… fitted in." House stared at him; "Wow! My little wombat's all grown up!" He acclaimed.

"It wasn't hard. Just a bit of deducing. I just did what you generally do. Think of the craziest reason she could be sick and stick with it until it's either proved right or not. Turned out to be right is all." Chase shrugged. House nodded; "Well good. You should do that more often," And he turned to his two other ducklings, "See that? Take example on him." Cameron smirked and Foreman rolled his eyes. They sat down and chatted about various things. Cameron frowned at their boss; "You're in a good mood today." She remarked. He scowled sarcastically; "There you go, ruining all the fun!" He said.

"No, but really!" She pressed on, "I mean, you nearly died only a few hours ago and now you're talking casually with us and stuff. Aren't you… troubled or something?" House pouted slightly, then smacked his lips; "Nope. I'm alive, forgiven, my leg's not being a bitch today and I've got my little wombat to entertain me tonight. What could I be troubled about?" He asked, a significant smile as he looked sideways at Chase, who felt a slight squirm in his stomach and blushed. Cameron shrugged with somewhat widened eyes; "Okay then… good." Foreman was smiling knowingly and Chase avoided his stare.

He knew that if he was going to be with House, he'd have to put up with the man's snide remarks every day probably, but he would deal with that somehow. Hopefully, he would manage to not go completely insane, if that was even possible.

They got lunch, joined by Wilson and went back to the conference room afterwards, with intentions to do as little work as possible. That is, until Cuddy came in, announcing they had to get a move on. "Okay, I know you're all procrastinating in here, so either you get to the clinic or do some paperwork, or just leave, but stop wasting your time here." She told them crossly and Foreman shot gunned the paperwork at once. House categorically refused to go down to the clinic and sent Cameron, threatening to make her do his own hours too. She left like a bullet and Chase remained seated, awaiting his sentence. Nothing came; in fact, House went to sit in his office, so he decided not to try his luck and took out his crossword puzzles. There was no one left to tell him to work so he might as well.

He was nibbling his pencil when he heard House talking. He looked up and saw him with Cuddy in the office. Their voices were muffled so he couldn't make out what they were saying. Cuddy was currently snapping at him, looking pretty annoyed. House growled something back and she sat down in front of him. Chase frowned; what had House done already that could get him in trouble? They hadn't really left the conference room since House had been released. No… they hadn't gone anywhere except the cafeteria and House had been strangely calm. Well, it wasn't that strange if you understood the fact he'd nearly died after all…

"FINE! I'll just leave then!" He heard House shout and he limped into the room, looking at Chase, "C'mon, let's go. I'm tired." Chase took notice of Cuddy scowling behind the older doctor's back, but he nodded, "Okay." He quickly hid his crosswords, hoping Cuddy hadn't noticed them and got up, swinging his messenger bag over his shoulder. Cuddy didn't stop them from leaving, merely told them warningly; "I'm going to let you leave early because you don't have patients, but make sure you're in here tomorrow ON TIME, House, otherwise… you don't want to know." House smirked, "Yes I do." She scowled even more; "You're going to have so much clinic duty that you'll even grow to like it, am I clear?"

"What, like Stockholm syndrome?" House asked, and she sighed, leaving without answering. House grinned at Chase and they left happily. Once they were in the parking lot, Chase stopped House by grabbing his arm; "The nurse said you shouldn't drive." He told him, "At least until tomorrow morning." House hummed resentfully, but followed Chase to his car.

As he started the engine, House ordered; "Stop at a Chinese takeout, and head to my place." Chase really didn't want to eat takeout; the sheer thought of it make his stomach turn over, but he complied. He let House order what he wanted at the drive-thru and shook his head when he was asked what he wanted. "Really? Nothing?" House pressured him, but he nodded; "It's fine." House shrugged and paid for his stuff before they drove off, not talking for the rest of the drive.

Even once they were sitting in House's living room, Chase watching his mentor eating his takeout, they were completely silent. Until House looked up at him; "You sure you're not hungry? I'll give something, I'm not a dog; I can share food." Chase shrugged. "Something to drink?" House asked, but he shook his head yet again; "I'm not hungry." He affirmed, "I'm just wondering, you know… about us."

House didn't reply immediately, chewing his fried chicken with a distant look upon his face. He swallowed, took a gulp of Pepsi and took a sharp inhale before speaking again, "Why wonder? We've been through this right? Just ask me; what's wrong?" Chase frowned; "I know, it's just that trying to get answers out of you is near-impossible. I'm just wondering what's going to happen now, that's all. Nothing to be worried about." House chuckled, "Have you actually been in a committed relationship before?"

"Of course – I, well… Not really." Chase admitted. House raised his eyebrows, clearly awaiting more. Chase tittered.

"A few girlfriends in high school… after that I was in med school, so you know, less time and stuff. But I did have one other girlfriend in med school – she, um… left. She told me I was working too much so I didn't have time to be with her as much as she'd have liked." Chase divulged slowly, still a little embarrassed at talking about himself to House. He knew it was a big step that he had to take though. House nodded, taking in the information, and swallowed another eggroll.

"Any boyfriends?" He asked him swiftly, making Chase's stomach squirm for the umpteenth time today. He shook his head; "No. I kind of always knew I had something for guys in a way, but… I guess I was comfortable with just girls."

"You weren't curious?" House inquired, making the blond shake his head again, "You've had a boyfriend before?" He asked his boss incredulously. He suddenly had an image of a younger House walking hand in hand with another guy. It nearly made him burst out laughing. Somehow the thought of House being in love was strange – that thought was strange in itself because he was in love right now wasn't he? Meanwhile, House was chewing his chop suey thoughtfully. "I wouldn't call it having a boyfriend, but yeah." Chase stared at him with a bland look. "So you…"

"Made out at some parties and stuff. It never got serious though. Fuckbuddies if you prefer." Chase nodded, incredulous. "But you like me right?" He asked all of a sudden. He had to know.

"I'm serious about you." House told him and Chase smiled. Having finished his takeout, House went to throw the empty cartons away and returned shortly, stretching his arms up as he sat down. "So what now? Any more inquiries?" He asked the blond doctor, who shrugged; "What now? Are we just going to continue like this…? I mean; your place, my place… your car, my car…?"

House openly laughed. A true, full laugh.

"What are you saying my dear Chase?" He asked contemptuously, "Aww, you want to move in with me?" Chase blushed, "Well that was the idea, yeah…" House smiled, but didn't say anything. "But stop kidding around! This is serious, um… relation talk, you know?" He said, making House laugh again, "Yeah I know. So you want to move in or what?"

"That's what I was going to ask. Do you _want_ me to move in?" Chase shot back.

"Yeah, my apartment's nicer." House established firmly, winking. Chase rolled his eyes; "That's what I was saying. If I move in, it'll be here, but do you want us to live together?" Chase pressed on, trying to get House to understand how uptight the situation was making him. House grinned; "Sure! We'll be just like The Odd Couple! You be Felix and I'll be Oscar."

Chase grumbled; "I shouldn't have brought this up. Just forget about it for now, okay." He told House, regretting his decision to talk about it this quickly. He put his face in his hands and sighed heavily. He heard House cough. No doubt was he too regretting having had the conversation. Maybe he was mad at himself for teasing Chase.

"Chase…" House said slowly, and he looked up at him, "What?"

"I'd be thrilled if you'd like to move in." He admitted hurriedly, and Chase grinned; "Really? You mean it?" House nodded; "And you don't have to be Felix." He grinned back. Chase laughed shortly. "Thanks. That means _you'll _be cleaning then?" He rose, continuing along the lines of The Odd Couple metaphor. House snorted. "Not a chance." He finished clearing up the things that were left on the coffee table; notably a Pepsi bottle and his fork, and came back to sit next to Chase, this time really close. "So… what now?" he asked for the second time that evening. Chase shrugged and was about to speak when House stood back up and went to the TV.

Chase's heart thumped harder against his rib cage than usual as he bit back what he'd been about to say, storing it away for later. House turned on his X-box and came back to the couch with the remotes, pouting; "Wanna play with me?" Chase smiled; House was such a kid sometimes, but was quick to comply, taking the remote hastily, with the optimism of beating House.

Tough luck. House was pretty good. Chase stuck out his tongue and sat up straighter as he time and again tried to beat House to the finish line, ineffectively. When House threw a fist in the air shouting; 'Goal!' for about the fourteenth time, Chase decided he'd had quite enough. "Okay, haven't you beaten me enough now?" He inquired as House reloaded the game, looking ready for another round. He turned to look at him; "What you want to play a different game? Fine with me." He smiled sneakily and shut the game off, slumping back down on the couch afterwards.

Here it was, Chase thought, the moment he'd been waiting for all day but at the same time dreading. It was time to go to bed now if they didn't want to be late for Cuddy. Chase knew they could trust her to stick to her words. He gulped and turned to face House, who gave him a derisive worried face; "Oh no, this is the awkward part where you ask for make-up sex isn't it?"

Chase stopped to stare at him; god, how did this man manage to be so strait-forward about these kind of things? He tried not to let his nervousness show through as he smiled as genuinely as he could and replied, "Yeah. It is." And leaned in to kiss him.

It was by far their best kiss ever; Chase felt like he was falling in love all over again. House was letting his emotions shine through, for once he wasn't scared of what Chase would think. They were completely exposed to one another. The moment was beautiful until House got up with a content face; "Coming to bed honey?" He posed in a bizarre feminine manner, as if Chase were his husband. Chase gave him a weird look and followed him into the bedroom where House leant him some pyjama pants, stating; "Tomorrow you're bringing over your own things. My clothes don't really fit you."

"I thought you said they did…" Chase told him and he shrugged; "I kept giving you old clothes from when I used to be shorter." With that, he went to brush his teeth, leaving Chase to change. His stomach was being all fluttery again, and he tried to ignore it while he sat on the bed waiting for House. Finally, he limped in the room and pointed to the bathroom; "Go brush your teeth. There're some spare brushes in the top drawer." He told him, sounding almost motherly. Chase obeyed, while biting back a laugh.

House sat on the bed, massaging his thigh and trying to resist taking a vicodin; he had only four left so he'd rather be in pain a bit right now than when he'd have to walk tomorrow. He twiddled his thumbs and waited for Chase. He could hear him brushing his teeth in the bathroom next door, and it was still strange to him. He was happy at the thought that Chase was going to live here, but that didn't mean it wasn't weird. He was a long way away from Stacy; he remembered he'd found it strange living with somebody at first but he'd gotten used to it after a while. But this was not Stacy; Chase was much more clingy and he wasn't a girl, and no matter how much House accused him of being one, he'd had proof of it. He smiled.

Just then, Chase was back, looking more like he was attending a funeral than about to sleep with someone. "C'mon, try to relax." House advised him as the other man seated himself in front of him on his hands and knees. He gulped; "I know… I'm…" House smirked and leaned in to kiss him. Hmm. Minty. He felt Chase smile and it somehow escalated his confidence. He moved so he was on top of Chase and winced at the jolt of leg pain that followed. Chase kissed back vehemently as their clothes were discarded, but stopped when he looked up at House's face. House quickly tried to camouflage his look of pain, but it was useless.

"You're in pain. Let me lead." Chase told him, assuring him that it would be okay with a nod of the head. "I'm okay. It – ahh – it's fine." He tried to say though the hiss of pain that came from him leaning on his leg too much and shifted his weight onto his other knee. Chase smiled; "Either take a vicodin or let me take over." He said gently.

"I can't," House seethed, "I won't have any left tomorrow if I do." Chase nodded; "C'mon… I don't want this to be angry sex." House sighed, defeated, but he knew Chase was right. He'd get his turn. Chase helped him flip over onto his back without it hurting his leg too much and continued what they'd started. He paused to look at House's leg; he'd never really properly seen it. The first time, they'd had sex in the dark, the other time he'd seen him naked in the shower but hadn't really looked at it. He lightly touched the scar with his finger and he felt House squirm.

"Don't be ashamed." Chase told him when he saw House's hesitant face, "I like it." He admitted, feeling slightly stupid. House apparently thought it was a strange comment too put it was put aside.

It was really the first time they were doing this with the light on. It made it somehow even better, and Chase tried desperately to memorize every moment of it, all the subtle things that made House's body unique. He was gorgeous in the dim yellowish light.

House couldn't keep his eyes off Chase's face. It mesmerized him; peaceful, with his hair clinging to the sweat that had formed slightly on his forehead. His eyes were the best: all that emotion swirling in his green orbs made it all worthwhile. It made him realize how much he'd missed _making love_. Because to him, this wasn't just sex. The look, the light radiating off his cheeks and shoulders and the shadows formed by the outlines and curves of his muscles – everything was so perfect.

House twisted on his side to turn off the light as Chase slumped down next to him, burrowing into his back under the covers. House pulled the covers back on his side, consequently pulling Chase in too. Chase rubbed his feet on his, curling his toes. His feet were cold and it made House jump but he smiled. It was kind of cute.

They stopped tossing, fighting for the covers and settled down, ready for a good night of sleep. The only real one they'd had for a while now. Everything was back in its place.

----

Chase nibbled a pencil as he worked on his crossword, completely unaware of the suggestive glances House kept sending him. Cameron was sitting next to him, drinking her coffee and trying to ignore House and Foreman was looking extremely bored, playing around with a rubber band. Wilson was sitting with them too. Unlike Cameron, he was smiling at House.

"Everything's going well I take it?" He asked his friend, who glanced at him; "Sure." Foreman noticed Chase's lip curl into a small smile and said; "You two made up then?"

House chuckled, "That's a relative way of putting it. We like it rough don't we, Aussie? Rawr." He stated, pinching Chase in the side, making him squirm and blush slightly, "Will you cut it out? I'm trying to – hey, that's it: rough!" He said, writing the word down in his crossword. House smiled; "Always happy to help." Chase glowered at him, though with a smile and Cameron let out an 'aww'.

"When's the marriage then?" She asked, making House choke. Chase stared at her and Foreman laughed; "Nice one, Cameron." As if saving them from the awkwardness, Cuddy suddenly came in, hands on her hips. "Wilson! I'd expect better of you! Patients are dying and you're here drinking coffee? Get a move on!" He lost no time in obeying, clearly not keen on getting shouted at some more and ran off to attend to his business. Cuddy then rounded on House.

"You: clinic duty." She stated.

"Aw, but mom…" He whined, and she scowled; "I noticed you came in on time this morning. Great. But you don't have any patients yet, so go." He groaned, but got up, taking out his bottle of vicodin – shit, he'd forgotten it was empty. He kicked the underside of Chase's chair, making him yelp and stare up at him indignantly. "Blondie, come with me." He said. Cuddy frowned; "You don't need Chase to examine patients House."

"Precisely. I need him to relieve my pain." He said, "And since you sent Wilson away…" She stared, and he scowled sarcastically; "Geez, I'm talking about Vicodin! I need a refill." Cuddy nodded, but told him; "Okay, but Chase is coming right back up here afterwards. I don't want anyone coming to me saying they found you two in a closet somewhere or something." And she sat down, crossing her arms and reading the newspaper that was laid out on the table. The cripple glared at her but she didn't take notice of it, so he and Chase went downstairs in silence, House silently fuming.

He was waiting in the lobby for Chase to return with his vicodin, when he heard a familiar voice behind him: "Greg…" He turned around slowly, gaping at the person. It was Stacy.

"Hi… Stacy…" He managed to say. His brain was buzzing. She smiled and walked up to him, "How are you?" She asked, smiling. He smiled too, "Well, the past five years have been like… have you ever seen those Girls Gone Wild videos?" She smirked; "Your life's been like that or it's been spent watching them?" He smiled back; she always knew what to say to beat him.

She started to speak; "I have missed you…" but before House could say anything in response, it was interrupted by Chase, who stepped into the scene unaware of what was going on; "Hey House, here." He gave him the bottle, and House mumbled something but didn't look at him. Chase turned his gaze curiously to the woman he was looking at, and she smiled at him. This seemed to make House realize he was there and he turned to look at the blond doctor; "Thanks Chase." He said at last.

The woman held out her hand; "Stacy Warner. You must work for Greg?" She said importantly. Chase took her hand and shook it slowly, looking between her and House. House was looking really put off by the situation. "Um yeah. Robert Chase." He answered. She smiled again and looked back at House, "I need your help." She stated, holding out some files.

Chase couched as House moved in to look at what she was showing him and said; "Um… I'll go back upstairs," he told him, placing a hand on House's forearm tenderly, nearly possessively, "See you at lunch?" House locked eyes with him at last and smiled; "yeah." Now that was reassuring for Chase and he made his way back to the conference room. Was this Stacy… _The _Stacy? He couldn't help wondering, but there was only one way to know.

"What took so long?" Cuddy inquired as he stepped in the room, going back to his seat. He couldn't answer for a few seconds, but he finally managed to say; "um, I went to refill House's vicodin, and when I came back, he was talking with this woman. Actually, they weren't really talking… Just… looking at each other. Um, she shook my hand and said she was called Stacy. Stacy Warner." He saw Cuddy's face grow softer.

Cameron frowned, "So?" She asked. Of course she didn't understand; she'd never even known House was once with a girl called Stacy. Cuddy sighed; "That's her." She told Chase, who nodded; "That's what I figured."

"Who?" Cameron questioned again and Chase sighed heavily; "House's ex-girlfriend." She uttered a small 'oh…' and fell silent. Foreman's eyes widened; "House used to have a girlfriend? Must be one hell of a character." He thought out loud. Chase smirked; "It'll be okay thought, right?" He asked Cuddy, "House told me he was the one who left her – he doesn't still have feelings for her does he?" Cuddy scratched her forehead; "That's not exactly true. They kind of decided to end it together. She was tired of him more than he was tired of her I think. I'm not sure, because he never wants to talk about it, but he's probably really troubled by her appearance. Of course, he still loves you. Don't go worrying about that." She reassured him.

He nodded and they were all silent until Cuddy's cell phone rang. "Hello?... Yes… Oh, dear. …Okay, I'll have someone replace him. Okay, thank you." She said and hung up. Chase was worried all of a sudden; "Who was it?"

"Oh it's nothing. One of the teachers for the interns is sick…" She took out her pager and wrote a note to someone, then stored it away. "Cover your ears." She advised them. Foreman frowned; "Why?" She didn't answer, so they all exchanged looks until the door banged open and House limped in spectacularly, roaring; "WHAT THE HELL?"

Cuddy had been the only one to actually cover her ears, so everyone else flinched and House walked up to the middle of the room; "YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?" He continued, obviously pissed. "STOP YELLING!" Cuddy yelled back at him. House scoffed; "Hypocrite…" Cuddy sighed, "Look, Dr Riley is throwing up; he obviously can't teach. I need someone to replace him."

"Oh did you witness the spew? Or are you just taking his word for it?" Cuddy smirked, "He doesn't have a history of lying to me." House moaned; "But why me?!"

"Because the world hates you? Or because it's a class on diagnostics – whichever reason suits your narcissism better. Now go, I'll give you two hours off clinic duty. I know you'd rather listen to yourself for a few hours than listen to patients. Class starts in twenty minutes." She scorned at him, and he sighed, giving up. "Whatever… I'll do it. See you later." He bent down to place a small kiss on Chase's cheek and walked out.

Cuddy sighed happily; "Well, that was easier than I thought." Chase put a hand on the spot House's lips had touched moments ago, with a distant look on his face. He then said slowly; "House… never does that." Cuddy smiled, "What kiss you on the cheek?"

"Yeah. In front of people… I mean, he teases me about it but…" Chase trailed off, and Cuddy's smile grew, "I know why." Chase gave her a confused look and she explained, "He knows you know about Stacy, so he's implicitly reassuring you that there's nothing going on with her that could change his feelings for you. He wants you to know he loves you but, you know House… It's not everyday he says those words." Chase stared at her, but he understood.

"Wow… wish I was a girl. How do you understand those things?" He asked, grinning in appreciation. Cuddy shrugged, "Don't know. We just do." Cameron smiled, "I think it's great for House. He's a little less miserable you know."

"You've noticed a change?" Chase inquired. He hadn't really noticed anything except the teasing, really. Cameron nodded, "Yeah, he seems a little happier maybe? Less angry. Well, except for when he was yelling but there was a reason for that. Usually he just mocks everything anyone says for the heck of it…" She thought out loud.

They were all lost in their thoughts for a while, Chase continued his crosswords, and Wilson came back. Cuddy immediately rounded on him, but he held out his hands, as if she was going to hit him, "No one's dying!" He assured her, "I'm here to get House for lunch… where is he?" Cuddy frowned at him, "He's teaching a class. You sure no one's dying?" He smirked at her and looked around. "Anyone else wants lunch?" He inquired. Chase, Cameron and Foreman exchanged inquisitive looks and shrugged, "Yeah," Foreman spoke for them all, "It's not like we would be wasting time – we don't have any patients and House is teaching so…"

They got up and went to eat with Wilson. Cuddy rejected their offer, stating she had some work to do and parted ways with them.

Chase was unwrapping his sandwich when it came to him: he could ask Wilson about Stacy. "Hey Wilson? Um…" He started and the oncologist looked up at him, waiting for what he had to say; "I found House talking with someone this morning. Um… I asked Cuddy and she told me it was her, Stacy Warner."

Wilson swallowed his mouthful and said, "Yeah… I had lunch with her a while ago. Because we're still friends you know, and she told me she needed help with her new husband's case. I advised her to ask House… She said she would think about it. I didn't expect her to come so soon, though." Chase nodded, and nothing more was said on the subject.

----

House was, in short, a pretty good teacher. The four doctors had gone to sit down in the back of the class to listen to the end of his lecture. Cameron was astonished by the story when Chase told her it was House's own.

"Because of the… extent of the muscle removed," House was currently saying, "The utility of the patient's leg was severely compromised. Because of the time delay in making the diagnosis, the patient continues to experience chronic pain." He flinched at his own words, and looked down at his hands, falling silent.

One of the students spoke up; "She had no right to do that." She said. Another student argued; "She had the prox." The girl shot back, "She knew he didn't want to have the surgery." The guy went on: "She saved his life." Another of the students butted in; "Well, we don't know that! Maybe he would have been fine." The girl sighed, "It doesn't matter. It's the patients call." The first guy who'd spoken finished; "The patient is an idiot!"

A silence rang through the classroom and House chuckled; "They usually are." After a short pause, he looked around, "Don't you have a buzzer or something? What time does this class end?"

"Twenty minutes ago." Cuddy told him, having just appeared in the doorway. House got up and went to move off the stage, "I'm not doing this again." He held up a coffee mug for her to see, "And this guy is not the world's greatest dad. He's not even ranked. Who the hell lets their kids play with lead-based paint?" He inquired, giving the mug to her, "That's why he's always sick. Buy him some plastic cups and the class is all his again." With that, he left. The dumbstruck students exchanged weirded-out looks and gathered their things to leave.

House was walking alone in the corridor when Chase came up to him; "I thought you were great Greg." He told him proudly. House smirked, "Thanks… or whatever." Then he smiled, "Um, look. Sorry about earlier… You know, with Stacy."

Chase shrugged derisively. "It's okay… It's normal you would be… surprised… at seeing her. I don't mind." House nodded, "Well, anyway. We're invited to eat lunch with her and her husband later at ten." Chase stared, "We?" House nodded, "I just told her I was seeing someone." He told the blond, grinning, "I just said; 'I'll introduce you'. I didn't use any pronouns."

Chase laughed, "Well, she'll be shocked." House chuckled, too. "Probably." He winked at Chase and took his hand as they both walked out of the hospital together.

----

Sitting in the restaurant, House was currently balancing some forks on his glass with a toothpick.

"House… people are staring!" Chase told him, looking around and trying not to speak too loud. "I'm bored. And they're late." He stated, trying to remove the toothpick without the forks falling. Just then, Stacy arrived. As she sat in front of House, everything fell down and House slammed his hands on the table with a displeased look, "Thank you."

Stacy smirked, "You're welcome," She answered dryly and turned to Chase, "Robert, right?" Chas nodded awkwardly and shook her hand. House looked around, "Where the hell is what's-his-name anyway?" Stacy glared at him; "He'll be here. I'm sure he's just running a little late…" House scoffed: "He's cancelled two exams, he's not going to –"

"He's scared of you." Stacy asserted wryly, and House smirked, "Sure. The ex-boy-toy. Yeah, that makes sense."

"House!" Chase said, nudging him with his elbow. "I'm sorry." He said to Stacy, who smiled when House didn't continue to nag. "Wow, Greg, you found someone who can actually control you."

Chase smiled back and asked, "So what's wrong with your husband?" Stacy seemed pleased by his interest and answered shortly; "Sudden mood swings, he gets aggressive, abdominal pain and he's passed out twice." She explained. Chase nodded and turned to House; "What do you think?" House made a non-committal jerk of the head; "He's twenty minutes late. Maybe you should go see if he hasn't passed out in your living room." Stacy smirked, ignoring the taunt, "He'll be here." She said again.

"Why? Because he loves you and does everything he's told?" House asked. Stacy shook her head; "Because I didn't tell him you'd be here." She elucidated, her eyes widening. House smirked and jabbed her thumb at her to Chase, "That's a smart one." He said scornfully.

House and Stacy were staring at each other with contemptuous look when a man entered the restaurant. He spotted them and came to the table, "Stacy." He said and she looked around at him. "What's going on?" He asked, looking around the table, his gaze lingered on Chase for a second then on House. Stacy made him sit and held out a hand to House; "Hi." House said pleasantly enough, but anyone who knew him well could tell he was being sardonic; "I'm Greg House. You must be Matt."

"Mark." Stacy butted in, but Mark looked it over as he sat and shook House's hand warmly. "Don't worry about it." He turned to Stacy and whispered something in her ear. The exchanged a few short words and turned to House and Chase. House gestured to Chase with his hand, "This is Robert Chase. My boyfriend." He stated, with a look that seemed to dare Mark to laugh. Mark seemed a little taken aback, but shook Chase's hand anyway; "Nice to meet you."

"Wow… Greg House." Mark stated, making House smirk, "Yeah… heh, _wow_." Stacy threw him a dirty look, but Mark didn't notice, "I haven't been avoiding you – I just didn't want to waste your time." He told him, "Everything's fine. All the doctors who checked me out said I was just stressed. College season… kids, parents… they're all over me." He stated, while gesturing with his hands a lot. House nodded, "Makes sense to me."

"Greg." Stacy pressured dangerously. "What do you want me to do?"

"You said you'd check him out!" Stacy told him a little angrily. House shrugged, "Says he's healthy." Chase cleared his throat, "Maybe there's really a problem. You should at least let us check you out?" House slapped his hands together; "Great! Two against two! This is going to be fun!"

"Stop it…" Stacy said dejectedly, "You're not making anything better."

House seemed annoyed all of a sudden, and he picked up his glass to Mark, "Cheers to relationships." Mark determinately stared back, picking up his glass too and they rushed to down it before the other.

House was the first to finish his glass of beer, slamming it down on the table. Mark followed shortly, nonetheless losing. "You two are being very childish." Stacy remarked, and Mark shook his head; "I think that… whoa…" He looked around vaguely and House helped his head lay down safely on the table without hurting him just as Mark passed out.

Right on cue, a group of paramedics arrived; "Someone called 911 for a wagon to Princeton-Plainsboro?" He inquired in the restaurant, his team holding a stretcher. "Garçon!" House cried, snapping his fingers at the paramedic. They came to pick up Mark and rushed him away, reassuring the people of the restaurant that there was nothing to worry about.

Stacy rounded on House; "You dosed him!" She shouted out incredulously. "You wanted me to check him out." House argued, "Although I was a little worried that they were going to get here before he passed out… It would have been harder to get him to drink." Stacy scowled at him, gathering up her purse. Chase stared at House, "How did you get that stuff in his glass without me noticing?"

"When you went to wash your hands." House explained and Chase bit his lip, "I'm so sorry." He told Stacy. "Don't be." She assured him, "You'd better hope he's sick." She warned House before leaving.

House turned to the Australian, "See? I don't love her. Actually, I do – I'm just not in love with her." Chase smiled and House took his hands, "I'm in love with you." This made Chase grin and kiss him right there, in front of the whole restaurant. And itt was just right that way.

----

They had to wait until the following morning to do a differential. Cameron and Foreman finally arrived and House had gone to sort some things out and was going to return soon. Chase was sitting in his chair, a little tired from having spent the whole night at the hospital.

"Tummy ache, cranky… No apparent reason." Cameron began as she walked from the coffee to the whiteboard, "Any thoughts?" She leaned on the board and turned to her colleagues, who stayed mute, "Foreman? Are you going to contribute? Or are you too tired from stealing cars?" She asked, imitating House's manner of speech. Foreman looked up from his bowl of cereal with a less-then-amused face. Cameron pouted, "What? I'm being House… it's funny!" Foreman smirked, "I know. You made milk come out of my nose."

Chase laughed and Cameron went back to her place just as House walked in. "Good morning," he announced, "You guys read the file?"

"Previous tests revealed nothing of concern." Cameron stated. House turned; "Alright then. We're done. What d'ya think? Ball game… whatever, I just wanna hand with you guys." Cameron sighed, her shoulders drooping. "What about drugs?" Foreman asked, reading through the file, "His tox screen revealed massive amounts of chlorohydrate…" House smirked; "Oops, sorry that was me. I had to drug him to get him in here. Doesn't think he's sick." He said, stirring creamer in his coffee.

"Who does?" Foreman asked, raising his eyebrows as if making a point.

"His wife." Chase told him. Cameron looked up at House, "The woman you used to live with." House smirked at her, "Yeah, that's her Indian name. On her driver's license it's Stacy. Though, I assume you have a point." He shot at her, taking a sip of coffee. "Well, yeah, you believe her over the patient himself. That's why we're taking this case."

House looked at her thoughtfully, then stared at the ceiling. "Yeah, I hear voices. All the time, telling me to do stuff – it's crazy!" Cameron's stare didn't falter, "What happened to everybody lies?"

House walked up to her and stared her in the eyes, "I was lying." He then walked away to sit next to Chase, leaving her to ponder what he'd just said meant. "Do all the tests those other doctor did, when those are negative; ultrasound his belly. Then do a CT scan of his abdominal area, with and without contrast. Did I miss anything?"

Chase smirked; "Kitchen sink?" House turned to him, "Well we could certainly get that – Oh, you!" He said, laughing and giving him a short kiss. Chase kissed back happily, not even caring that Cameron and Foreman were there for once. He really didn't care anymore.

"Go now. Obey your master, little duckies. Don't come home too late and don't talk to strangers." He told them, picking up his briefcase as he went to his office with one last smile.

One of the rare true smiles they had ever seen him make. Only Chase could make him smile like that. They got up and went to examine the patient, House smiling in their wake.

----

A/N: Well, now it's over. I really didn't want to get too much in the whole Stacy thing because it would have been too long and repetitive. So I'm gonna leave it there. I like to leave endings that open up something so you can kind of imagine what'll happen next, you know?

Thanks for reading it anyway and, as always, thanks to everybody who reviewed!


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